


Black Fingernail, Red Wine

by shullieq



Series: Black Fingernail, Red Wine [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: AU, Complete, ItaDei - Freeform, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-30
Updated: 2017-07-17
Packaged: 2018-09-20 20:47:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 31
Words: 196,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9514361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shullieq/pseuds/shullieq
Summary: Itachi and Deidara are from two separate worlds of the same city, drawn together with a love of street racing. Opposites Attract?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Twilight](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/260483) by Shullieq. 



Chapter 1

Summer was drawing to an end, fighting violently against fall for more time that year. Despite it being mid-October, the weather was painfully warm. The sun beat down on the heads of those on the ground under its rays as they went about their daily business. Those owning cars had the benefits of a roof and air conditioning, but those that walked loathed the transfer of buildings they required to go through their day. They were the ones that acknowledged the sun most, glaring at it angrily or simply complaining to those suffering with them. Green was nearly finished being overtaken by the warm colors of autumn and all anyone wanted was to hide indoors or relax in a body of water to regain the liquid lost from sweat. Students filing into the parking lot of the high school didn’t bother to look at the beautiful colors around them in their hurry to get out of the sun.

A black Mazda rolled into the parking lot, quickly finding a spot and claiming it. Several heads turned to stare at the beautiful car, ogling at its make, the sound of its engine as it was cut off. More heads turned to watch the two brothers that got out of the car. As it often happens, the combination of rich and pretty meshed together formed the two sons of the head of police, Uchiha Fugaku, and his wife Mikoto. Both boys top of their classes and involved in many school activities. The older of the two, Uchiha Itachi, was a senior and in his last year; universities all over the country were begging for his attendance, offering scholarships of incredible amounts. The younger of the two, popular among the freshmen just starting their years in high school, Uchiha Sasuku gave his brother a grin in thanks for the ride and strode off to meet his group of friends before hurrying inside away from the heat. Itachi walked in alone, widening his stance as a few people tried to greet him like they did his brother. He wasn’t as social as his brother and ducked quickly into the cafeteria to grab orange juice before the bell rang.

The large cafeteria was almost was almost chilly compared to the heat outside, rows of long tables with benches connected to them were laid out neatly up and down the tiled room. It was empty except for a few people studying and a group of teenagers at one of the few round tables near the food counters. He glanced at them as he got in line, nose wrinkling slightly in distaste. There were three boys and four girls – no wait, four boys. One of the boys had fair androgynous features with long, unnaturally blond hair, but deep voice gave away his gender as he laughed at something one of the other boys said. One of the girls leaned across the table and whispered something in a seductive tone, which he brushed off. Irritated, she tossed something on the table top which the blond picked up, flipped through the roll of bills before sliding her a small bag which she thanked him for sarcastically, slipping hit under his school uniform jacket. Itachi scowled and glanced towards the food counter, but no one was watching. A glance up showed no cameras pointed at this particular table. Dealing drugs on school grounds, in public. He debated informing administration, but decided it was too early to deal with it, he bought his orange juice and went early to his homeroom.

The day passed without mishap or malfunction, Itachi took notes on what his teachers lectured about in a bored manner. He could have slept through the classes and still passed with top grades. High school felt like a waste. Sometimes he regretted not skipping grades to advance to university early, but appearing to be a hard working genius among peers put a lot dimmer spotlight on him than a hard working child genius among adults. A few more months and he could enter college and could meet challenges properly. The schools he’d be applying to after winter break would be law schools. Everyone on both sides of his family was involved in law. If they weren’t officers, they were lawyers or doctors. Itachi was expected to do the same and he never argued. The schools he planned on applying to were the top in the country and many had already sent letters to him with invitations.

Someone commented that they were happy tomorrow was Friday. Friday. Another beginning to a weekend he would rather be outside his house. Perhaps he could come up with an excuse to go to the library. With his first glance at the clock, he noted that it was nearly time for sixth period to end. How fast the day passed by when you’re not waiting for it to end. PhysEd was next, he noted with mixed feelings. The last class of the day, yes. A chance to work out, yes. But the day was still horribly hot outside, which meant the gym was going to be brutal. The school authorities claimed the gym was air conditioned, but no one believed them. How could they as the second he walked in, he was met with a wave of heat and the smell of sweaty bodies from years of previous classes. Entering the locker room, he went to his own four rows down and began changing into his gym clothes. The familiar smell of nicotine reached his nose, making him crave a cigarette suddenly. Going down a few more rows, he found the same blond boy from the cafeteria sitting against the wall on the floor smoking. Irritated, Itachi snatched it out of his mouth.

“No smoking on school grounds,” he told him, keeping his voice disinterested. Crushing the end against the lockers, he tossed it into the trash.

“Fuck you,” came the response, against surprising him by the deepness of it. It didn’t quite fit him. “Those aren’t cheap, rich boy.”

Itachi twitched at the name, glancing down at him a brief moment, before turning his back on him. “I’m sure you received enough for your drugs this morning to get another one,” he stated and walked away. As he turned the corner, he saw the blond glaring at him, but didn’t say anything, tilting his nose up in a judgmental manner. What an asshole.

The teacher entered the locker room as he was leaving and watched him hurry over to the laundry room door between the girls and boys where the blond boy was trying to pick the lock. “Deidara,” the teacher scolded sharply.

“What?” the blond said defensively, bending down to pick up the lock pick he’d dropped.

“You’re not skipping out on gym. Get dressed.”

Itachi left the locker room to join the other students and warmed up until the teacher and blond came out, the teacher complaining in an exhausted manner about the blond wearing long sleeves under his gym uniform. The blond just tied his long hair back and joined the mass of walking and running students warming up. The class played basketball for the remainder of the time in teams of four. Itachi was pleased, though he kept his face stoic. He liked playing basketball almost as much as he liked running track. They played the rest of the class period, the gym filled with the sounds of teenagers playing and the smell of sweat until the teacher’s whistle blew to call them all over to him. Next to him was a grey cart with stacks of folders and papers on it.

“I have an assignment for you all that is due next week,” he told them, closing his eyes slightly at the loud groan that irrupted in one chorus from the students in front of him, “that you will do with a partner,” several murmurs came as some people began telling their friends that they’d of course work with them, but then the teacher finished, causing another groan of protests, “of my choosing. You will be partnered according to your records so far this year, and I have designed the assignment so that BOTH of you need to contribute to this.” Ignoring the groans again, he began calling out the names of partners to come and get the assignment, the sent them to get showered and changed.

As he rose to collect the assignment, Itachi glanced around for his partner, his eyes narrowing slightly at the blond who rose at the same time. Deidara. Great, just his luck. He watched the blond take the paper from the teacher and head for the locker room, dropping the paper in the trashcan before entering. He scowled. This idiot was not going to ruin his perfect record because he didn’t do his part. Following after his new partner, grabbing the discarded paper as he went, he caught him as he was stepping into the shower room. Spinning him around, Itachi shoved the paper into his chest.

“You are going to do your part,” he said darkly, threat sewn into his voice.

“Get the fuck off me, un,” Deidara snapped, grunting in distaste as he tugged his arm from Itachi’s hold. “You can’t me do a fucking paper,” he informed him, a cocky smirk sliding onto his face. “Very threatening voice though. Props for trying.”

Once he was inside the tiled room, Deidara shut and locked the frosted glass door before pulling his clothes off. The hot water on, he slipped under the stream and sat down on the floor. The whole day had been a waste of time, Deidara decided, resting his head against the side. Well, not really. The air conditioning in the building was better than curling up on his floor by his fan. Glancing down at his arm, he squinted trying to read the things he’d penned there to remember later, but the water was already smudging them. Writing on your arm was frowned upon in the school, but most didn’t mind so long as he kept his sleeves down. They frowned upon wearing winter uniforms in the summer too, but what he wore didn’t matter in his mind. Finally getting up to wash his hair and body, he closed his eyes in contentment at the feeling of the water. The bell sounded through the hallways indicating how long he’d been in there, making him hurry to turn the water off and grab the towel from the shelves. He did have things to do tonight. Staying in the shower all evening wasn’t on his high end list of things to do. With his hair pulled into a low pony tail at his neck, he pulled his regular clothes on, balling his school uniform to stuff into his messenger bag. Dressed in dark green camouflage pants and a band tee, he grabbed his leather jacket and tossed the gym clothes into the laundry bag with the rest. Taking the stairs two at a time, he made a quick stop at his normal locker to grab his helmet and went outside to face the heat.

He waved to a few friends as he pulled his jacket and helmet on and climbed onto his motorcycle. Kicking into gear, he backed out of his spot and zoomed off towards the road, cutting off a black car that was about to turn out as well. He smirked at Itachi’s Mazda RX-7 behind the visor of his helmet and continued on without pausing.

Itachi glared after the bike. The bastard was lucky he had nice breaks. He had the sudden urge to chase the pretty bike down and run its rider over, but he calmed himself down and decided that it wasn’t a good idea. He didn’t go straight home, stopping at the bookstore to pick up something for his AP Psychology class. With Sasuke planning on catching a ride with his friends, he didn’t have to worry about getting home until four to make it back before his father returned. Sitting down in one of the stuffed chairs, he began reading the murder mystery he’d purchased along with the school book. The whole idea of the murderer’s mind enraptured him, making him wonder how he thought, what made him do what he did. Itachi enjoyed reading books like this to get into the mind of the antagonist to attempt to solve the puzzle before the characters did.

It wasn’t until his phone beeped from a text message that he looked up from the pages. Pulling his phone from his pocket, he saw his brother’s name and opened it.

‘where are you??’

Frowning, he started to text back that he was in a bookstore and ask why, but he froze seeing the time. So caught up in his book, he hadn’t realized that nearly three hours had gone by and it was nearly dinner time. Jumping up, he grabbed his books and darted to his car, driving as fast as he could to get home. Pulling into his street, he felt his heart that had been stuck in his throat fall down through the seat and drag on the street a little. The Volvo C40 was sitting in in the driveway, but his mother’s Porsche wasn’t. He wanted so badly to just keep going and find somewhere else to spend the night, but that would only make it worse later. Pulling into the drive, he turned off the car and got out to walk slowly up the front door. No one was waiting for him…

Sliding his shoes off in the foyer, he snuck up the stairs as silently as he could, going into his room and putting his bag and new books down. Hope crawled back with the silence in the house, until a voice came from his doorway. “You’re late.”

Swallowing with a clenched jaw, he turned to face his father with forced calmness. “I’m sorry father,” he told him. “I stopped to get a book for school at the store.”

“Did you ask permission?” Fugaku demanded, seeming to take his calmness for arrogance.

“I didn’t think I needed to,” Itachi said, unable to keep the scoff out of his voice. “I’m seventeen.”

He should have kept his mouth shut, but he couldn’t help it. He paid for it as his father’s anger lashed out. Nothing would have happened if his mother had been home. No one knew the life of the eldest Uchiha brother outside of school save for his brother. Not even his mother was aware of it. Later, as always when his father took his anger out of him, Sasuke had come into his room with a sandwich and drink for him and asked if he needed anything. Itachi, studying as though nothing had happened, told him he was fine and to go to his homework. His mother came home even later and brought him a mug of tea, reminding him as she turned the light on not to strain his eyes. She kissed the top of his head and asked if he needed anything. He told her no and she left him, his shoulder throbbing slightly from her light touch on a painful area. He hoped she would never find out.

The next morning, Itachi felt sore, but tried not to show it. Those in the world who shared similar lives and wish to hide it understood the processes one goes to cover the evidence. If it was bad enough, make up was easy to acquire and only a little usually needed to hide anything on his face. If not, excuses piled on depending on the person receiving them. A fight, school accident. Thankfully he didn’t need to use any of those methods today. Nothing from last night could be seen.

The day went by slowly today, perhaps because it was Friday, perhaps because Itachi dreaded trying to get his partner to do his assignment. Itachi had easily finished it last night. There was no way the blond couldn’t have done the same. 

He was disappointed however, for when he arrived to his gym class, listening for the teacher to call order among the students for a head check, the teenager wasn’t there. Shaking it off, he went about the class as he was supposed to. When it was over and he was showered and ready for the ride home, Itachi went to the teacher and asked where Deidara lived so he could talk to him about the assignment.

“I’m sorry, Itachi,” he told him, looking apologetic. “I can’t give out student information, and I don’t remember exactly anyway. Just that it isn’t in the best part of town.”

“Does he have a number on file I can call?” Itachi pushed, crossing his arms loosely. “I doubt he’ll do the assignment without someone pushing him.” He gave the teacher and expression to remind him that he had put him into this hole with his partner assignments.

“I’m sorry, Itachi,” the teacher repeated, shaking his head. “You could try the park downtown. From what I’ve heard, Deidara and his friends go there a lot to play on the skatepark there.” Reaching out, he placed a hand on Itachi’s shoulder, giving him a piteous look. “Please be patient with him,” he said. “Deidara’s a smart kid when he wants to be. He just has…the most irritating personality in the world.”

“Great, that makes it all better doesn’t it,” he snapped, turning on his heels to head towards his car. His body was sore from working out during gym despite his tender torso, it was just as hot as it had been yesterday and he was angry he had to deal with the blond. He didn’t want to, but to keep his record perfect, he had no choice.

When he stepped out of his car onto the skatepark’s parking lot, he cringed. He couldn’t understand why anyone in their right mind would want to be outside let alone be active in it. The sounds of people playing behind the chain link fence grated in his ears. He would force that brat to do the assignemtn, even if he had to drag him to his house and torture him until he complied. 

He shouldn’t be thinking like that.

How could they be so active? He thought again. He had only ever driven by the park, having been told the place was dangerous when he was a child. From where he stood at the entrance, it didn’t look very dangerous, just a playground for young adults. Concrete ramps were scattered over the park as were a basketball court or two and flat places to play. People were skateboarding or biking on the ramps, some were watching them, several people had a game of basketball going and a few people had brought their younger children to play with each other, chalking on the sidewalks under the watchful eyes of their parents. It didn’t look dangerous, but it also looked like a place full of delinquents and drugs.

It wasn’t long until his new face and nicer clothes were noticed by the people watching the skateboarders. Some stared without care, others whispered comments to one another, taking him for some rich kid looking for dope. Itachi finally spotted the unmistakable blond hair of Deidara, standing on an extremely high ramp, shouting down at the boy who had just finished, laughing with the others. His jeans were torn and he wore a hoodie despite the heat, though it was unzipped. He wasn’t wearing a helmet or pads. What a nutjob.

“Whatcha lookin for man?” someone near him asked.

“Him,” he said, nodding his head. Deidara shouted something he couldn’t understand and threw his arms up, receiving a shout of encouragement from the people below. Their response seemed to please him as he dropped down the high ramp, his skateboard under him.

Itachi’s answer seemed to amuse many of them, a few snickering quietly. The blond was showing off very unnecessarily on his skateboard. He would barely function during gym class, but out here in the sweltering heat, he was clearly athletic on the board. Itachi scowled. The blond was obnoxious and just so wrong. He looked so feminine, yet he had such a deep voice. He acted so lazy at school, yet was the center of attention among these people. What the hell was so special about him that all these people were cheering for him? He was clearly good, but they cheered for him more than the others.

That cheer rose even more as Deidara finished, jumping back up to the starting point, lifting his board over his head in salute to the onlookers before sliding down the ladder to join the crowds, receiving pats and congratulations as he passed people. He didn’t notice Itachi until the brunette spoke up. “They say cockiness is a display of an empty life,” Itachi commented loudly.

The blond glanced over at him, looking defensive and annoyed, but a few others stepped between them, reproaching him for talking down to Deidara. He felt the same defiance he felt when he faced his father rise up and smirk at their anger. “What the fuck is wrong with you, asswipe?” one snapped, giving Itachi a short shove.

“You deaf?” Itachi questioned, standing his ground.

The teenager shoved him again. “Don’t fucking talk to Deidara like that,” he snapped.

“I’ll talk to trash how it should be talked to,” Itachi stated, batting his hands away from his chest. There was a loud uproar around them and he saw the man in front of him clench his fists to hit him, but Itachi was faster. His fist smashed into the other’s nose, knocking him into the concrete. “Oops,” Itachi smirked at Deidara who was back in view, looking outraged.

People advanced on him, grabbing to repay what he’d done, but a sharp voice called out, stopping them. The crowd parted slightly as Deidara pushed his way through to him. Deidara’s blue eyes – was he wearing contacts? – were sharp as he stormed up to Itachi.

“What the hell is your problem?” he demanded. Itachi never noticed how short the blond was compared to him. He looked so tiny and angry, he almost wanted to laugh. He didn’t.

“What?” Itachi asked, looking down his nose at him. “Can’t I join in your fun?”

“This isn’t fun,” the blond glared. “This your sad little self looking for a fight.” He turned and looked down at the groaning man on the ground. “Go get him patched up,”

Itachi watched in half surprise as the others obeyed his order. Why anyone would listen to this midget was beyond him. His eyes followed the movements with withdrawn intent, deniably curious to how these people lived and functioned. He never hung around what could be classified as lower class, or outright poor. His father considered them scum, and he himself had no interest in people who didn’t work towards improving their lives. It never occurred to him that they might consider him scum for being rich. Itachi did consider his own family scum for their haughty ways, but that didn’t stop their ways from leaking onto himself. He watched Deidara turn and face him again, an evil look about him. Not only him, but the others around them looked ready to jump him. He could see the buildup of anger about to explode out of the blond, but Itachi cut him off. “I need to talk to you,” he told him.

“Like fuck I’ll talk to you, un,” the blond snapped. Itachi was going to fail this assignment because of this idiot. The two stared each other down, but Itachi, overwhelmingly frustrated, broke it first, turning on his heel to walk out towards the parking lot. It was due Thursday. He would get him later.

The parking lot wasn’t more than a grass spotted pavement by the road. Crowded with cars and bikes, Itachi had to walk passed a few to get to his Mazda. A few cars seemed out of place for the area, his own included. It was rather odd, but the Uchiha bypassed the thought when he saw a group of people sitting against his car, looking at it like hungry wolves. Except these wolves didn’t look like they just wanted to drool over the car or its modifications. Before he could yell at them, Deidara stepped in front of him, telling them to get off.

“I don’t need your help,” Itachi said, watching them step away from his car.

“I’d rather not have the cops swarming this place cause some moron decided to fuck up Uchiha’s son’s car, un,” Deidara muttered. A few heard him, turning to stare at Itachi.

Itachi ignored their stares, not exactly proud and most would assume that he was the son of the great police head Uchiha Fugaku. Quite the opposite. He could see these people hated his father as much as Itachi did, but it didn’t make a difference. He was looked at as though he were his father – though Itachi was certain that if his father arrived here, alone and with a nice car, he would have been jumped and his car stolen. Nothing he did would change how these people saw him. No matter what he did, expectations were always around and few could meet them. Top grades, top colleges. There was always people fawning over him, demanding things from him. It made him want to be alone, but as he looked around at these people here without those expectations, they seemed happy to be around one another. He looked at Deidara, still glaring up at him. This one didn’t expect anything from him except what he seemed to assume. “Get in the car,” Itachi ordered, unlocking it and sitting down in the driver’s seat.

“What?” the blond demanded looking confused.

“Get in the car… please,” he suggested, sarcasm laced in his words. He closed his door and turned the car on, waiting patiently for Deidara to make a decision. Much to his surprise, Deidara went to the passenger’s side and leaned into the window.

“I don’t get in people’s cars for less than three hundred bucks,” he smirked, patting the car and walking away to roars of laughter. Angry and confused, Itachi glared at the teen’s back as he entered the skatepark again, going back to his games. Shifting gears violently, Itachi revved out of his parking spot, tires screeching as he turned into traffic, nearly colliding with another car.

Deidara glanced back and watched him go, his smirk fading slightly. He didn’t get it. That boy… teenager… man – whatever he was – was relentless. Deidara knew exactly why he had come to the park. He wanted to try again to get him to do the assignment as if it was a huge deal. He couldn’t get the Uchiha out of his mind all day, even with a steady amount of alcohol and drugs running through his system that night. He barely paid attention to the hands around his waist or the nips at his neck. Why was he chasing after him over a grade? His thoughts were finally interrupted by another glass of alcohol held in front of him. His fingers slid over the glass and finally turned to the person he was supposed to be entertaining for the night. They leaned into him, questioning over the music what was wrong. Forcing the thoughts of the eldest Uchiha brother away for the time being, he gave them a smile and said it was nothing. He couldn’t work if he was thinking about that one’s idiocy. Moving with the music, the flashing lights and moving bodies around in one fluid movement. It was ecstasy in itself, but despite the rush it wasn't enough. That's what real ecstasy was for and it was rushing through his system. It felt fantastic, like a thrill of a nice ride on an open road. It helped him forget what he was doing and why he needed to do it. He was just another body in the mass of swaying bodies, losing themselves in the beat of the DJ speakers.


	2. Chapter 2

The clouds rumbled above, too far away to be anything more than rain and grumbles. There wasn’t even lightning. The sky had been crying for three days. Almost as though it was sad that Deidara had been to school yet that week. No, that couldn’t be it. Itachi drummed his fingers against his steering wheel. Why would anyone feel sad about his absences? No, the only thing people would be sad about is that they couldn’t get their drugs. Or if they had an assignment due with him as their partner in two days. He was disruptive and rude. Most would be happy if he hadn’t been to school. Not him. Not Uchiha Itachi. Uchiha Itachi was growing to hate Deidara as he had with no other student in his school and was pissed off he hadn’t been to school as much as he wished he would never return. However, if he didn’t return, Itachi would not get an A on this assignment and it was due in two days. This had gone on too long. He did not want to do this, but he had to. After school and another failed attempt at dragging Deidara’s personal information out of an unyielding teacher, Itachi had cornered one of the people he had seen Deidara talking to during class in the locker room and forced it out of them.

Which is how he found himself driving down one of the dirtiest, poorest looking streets he’d ever been on. His beautiful shiny car looked completely out of place and he had a feeling his baby might be in danger in this neighborhood, but he didn’t plan on staying long. His GPS beeped indicating his arrival and he pulled his car to the curb. Under his umbrella, he made sure his car was locked and walked up to the door of a seven story building across the street. There was no knocker on the heavy, locked doors. He wondered if the occupants were squatters who broke in to live here. Looking around, he noticed a small keypad on the side of the door with room numbers and buttons on it. This must have been a real apartment at some point and time before it got overrun with pests – and probably bugs as well. He didn’t know which button would summon Deidara, so he settled on the first one. If it wasn’t his room, then he could ask to be let in at least.

He didn’t have to wait long before a voice came from the speaker. “Who is it?” the uninterested female voice questioned.

“I’m looking for Deidara,” Itachi said, refusing to be a moron who puts their face up against the speakers as though the other side would never be able to hear him unless he shouted.

“What for?” asked the voice. What was it her business what he wanted Deidara for? He was half tempted to tell her he wanted to come here and murder the blond. He wondered if she would sound more interested.

“He’s in my class at school, we’re doing a project together,” he replied instead. Manners helped give that extra step and apparently it was decent enough because the voice told him to wait a moment and fell silent. He waited patiently, glancing back a few times at his car. He hoped it was safe there and that Deidara was feeling cooperative. He didn’t want to stay here longer than was necessary.

With a soft whooshing sound, the door opened and a woman appeared, far into her months of pregnancy dressed in dark jeans and a tank top. There was a little girl clinging to her leg, peering out from behind her. They both looked both surprised and confused at his appearance. The woman glanced down at the girl and knelt next to her. “Sweety, can you go wait for me in the play area?” she said, her voice much less cool in person. It was kind and friendly, as was the expression she gave him when she stood back up. “What can I help you with?” she asked. “You said you wanted to see Deidara? I’m the caretaker of the building.”

Itachi hid his confusion at her words. A caretaker could be categorized in two ways: one would be that she was the apartments cleaner as though this run down place was a mansion inside. The other possibility was that she was a baby sitter of sorts for the people living here. That little girl may have been hers, but the woman seemed too young to have a child that old. She said ‘of the building’, which indicated that she was the babysitter of everyone living here. “Yeah, Deidara. Blond, short, obnoxious?”

“I know who he is,” she said with a small laugh. She held the door open wider for him and led him towards the stairs. With a hand under her swollen belly, she led him up four flights of stairs before pausing at a landing. “This is Deidara’s room,” she said, motioning to a plain door in front of them. Itachi had half expected there to be signs saying KEEP OUT posted over it.

“Rin.” Itachi turned around at the new voice that had crept up the stairs behind him. Itachi studied the man the same way he was being studied. The man was average height, very well built and clean shaven. His face would have looked plain, like any man you’d see walking down the streets, but he had marred it and his ears ears with so many piercings, Itachi wondered if he set off every metal detector he went through. He also had dyed blue hair that stuck up like a hair gel commercial. Despite his casual punk appearance, somehow he gave off the aura of someone who shouldn’t be taken lightly. His hard studying expression changed to a softer one when he spoke to the woman who led him up the stairs. “You shouldn’t be climbing all these steps.”

“I’m fine,” the woman, Rin, said with a smile. She motioned to the door again to Itachi then walked down the stairs with the blue haired man, leaving him alone on the landing. “You worry too much.”

Itachi stared after them, wondering if he would ever understand these people. The two were clearly together, but she looked so normal compared to him. Shaking his head, he turned to the door and knocked twice. He could hear the blond’s voice on the other side demanding what the interruption was. Without waiting for the actual invite, Itachi turned the handle and walked in, a quick intake of the room found Deidara lounging on a mattress placed directly on the floor smoking a cigarette – or it could be a joint by the way it smelled. The open window let the smoke out, keeping it less foggy than it should have been. “Oh it’s you,” Deidara said, dropping his head back down. “Let me save you the breath. I’m not doing the assignment, un.”

Itachi frowned, glancing again at the unmade bed, Deidara and the room. He had never seen Deidara with his hair down before and, despite looking slept on and unwashed for the day, it still spilled onto the bed and over his shoulders with an odd air of elegance. The walls of the room were bare of pictures, but covered in layers of spray paint and marker doodles that hurt his eyes to look at. There was only the mattress and one old looking dresser in the small room, though it seemed the blond was keeping all his clothes on the floor. Ignoring the mess, he pulled out the papers from his jacket and held them out. “Look, I did my part, but you need to do yours,” he said, waving them a little. “I tried to do both parts, but it would be too obvious and it’s designed to be for two people. I have a perfect grade… don’t make me hurt you so it doesn’t get tarnished.”

He hadn’t expected Deidara to leap up and bounce around squealing that he’d happily do it, but his reaction was not expected. All he did was blink slowly at him a few times, then reach his hand out for the paper. He glanced at it a moment, then flicked the paper and watched it float down to the ground, seeming to be mesmerized by the movement. Glancing up at Itachi, he raised an eyebrow and rolled away to give him his back. “Not going to do it, un,” he informed him, returning the joint to his lips.

Glaring angrily, Itachi stormed over and grabbed him by the collar, tearing the little roll out of his mouth and stomped on it. “That’s disgusting,” Itachi growled.

“Don’t knock it till you try it, un,” Deidara retorted, looking very put out, but too stoned to be angry at his actions.

“I’d never try shit like that,” Itachi snapped, dragging him up off the bed. Before Deidara could protest that it wasn’t shit, in fact, it was quite fantastic, Itachi had slammed him against the wall. Itachi glared down at him, anger boiling over. “What do you want?” he asked in a much calmer voice than his actions indicated.

“For you to let me go,” Deidara muttered. “Why the hell would you come here?” He let his head fall back against the wall. “Aren’t you worried you’ll catch some freak disease or something? This place doesn’t take visitors well.” He turned his nose up at Itachi.

“Why? What is this place anyway?” he demanded.

“It’s my place,” Deidara said, looking confused. “It’s like… an orphanage I guess and a halfway house.” They stared at each other a moment, then Deidara sniffed and turned his nose up again. “It’s just a grade you know, un.”

Itachi’s eyes darkened. If it was just a grade he wouldn’t be doing this. It wasn’t just a grade in so many ways. He had a perfect record; that was enough to push to keep it that way. His father wanted him to be the best of the best. That was even more than enough to push. He wouldn’t be pleased to know he had gotten a bad grade on one measly gym assignment because his partner refused to do it. Asking nicely didn’t seem to work against Deidara, neither did physical treats, but he could try again.

“Look,” he snapped, giving him another shove against the wall. Deidara’s head bounced off it, making him wince, but Itachi ignored it. “You do the fucking assignment or I’m going to make you hurt more than you ever have,” he growled.

Deidara leaned closer to him and nipped Itachi’s earlobe causing him to start. “I doubt that,” he whispered to the stunned Uchiha. Smirking, Deidara leaned back against the wall and watch him clench his fists tighter than let go. Itachi growled angrily and smash his phone he’d been clutching since he arrived against the opposite wall. “Ohh, scary tantrum,” Deidara laughed as Itachi stormed out of the room, slamming the door and storming down the stairs.

The blond wasn’t in school the next day either. Instead of driving back to his house and beating the living day lights out of the arrogant boy, Itachi spent the time between the end of school and his father getting off work driving around the outskirts of the city to cool his head before heading home. No cars were in the driveway when he arrived home. That was good. A nice quiet evening. As he approached the door, he froze, suddenly remembering that he was supposed to give Sasuke a ride from school. He banged his head against the door post. If Sasuke had to beg a ride from his friends, there was definitely a pissed off little brother on the other side of the door.

The sound of the TV welcomed him into the house. Yep, Sasuke was home. Walking into the living room, Itachi half braced himself for an assault, but the scene in the kitchen made him drop his guard and stare. He didn’t see Sasuke get up from his seat at the kitchen island and run over to him to give a playful, yet reproachful shove. “Niisan! Where were you?!” he demanded. “You were supposed to give me a ride.”

“What is he doing here?” Itachi demanded, pointing at the infamous blond he wished he’d never met sitting next to Sasuke’s vacant spot with a sandwich and juice box. The blond looked incredibly smug about getting under Itachi’s skin. It made Itachi even angrier to know that Deidara knew he’d succeeded.

“Deidara gave me a ride home with his friends,” Sasuke said, looking a little huffy at Itachi’s rudeness to his new friend.

“There I was hanging out at school and I see this poor freshman looking completely forgotten,” Deidara said, munching on his sandwich. “So my friends and I gave him a ride and – shocking coincidence – he’s your brother! Nice place. Good central air conditioning.” He gave the house an approving glance as Itachi pushed Sasuke behind him and stormed up to the blond, preparing to yell himself hoarse. Beating the stream of insults, Deidara held up a folded piece of paper out to him. “You forgot this yesterday,” he told him as he handed it to him then continued to eat his sandwich and turned to watch the television visible from the island.

Itachi had snatched it from him, knowing what it was, but before he could yell he noticed a different handwriting on the paper. Unfolding it with a frown, he found his own handwriting where he had placed it, but also another set, smaller than his own on the lines he left blank. The moron did the assignment… which was due tomorrow. He had definitely not expected this. Looking up at Deidara, he watched the blond finish eating the sandwich then begin sucking down the juice box with smug grin.

“Follow me,” he demanded, pointing at the stairs. He headed up the stairs with the blond following cautiously behind him. He wanted to talk him without Sasuke involved. Based on the information he had dug up from his unwilling informants when he was getting his house information, he didn’t want him anywhere near his brother. With a backwards glance, he saw the blond following him with his hands in his pockets and Sasuke’s nosey face poking around the living room wall. Ignoring it, he grabbed Deidara’s shirt and shoved him into his bedroom.

“What the fuck?” he demanded, catching himself on the end of the bed before he fell. “Stop pushing me around like—” His rant was cut off by a punch from the taller man before him. The sound of it seemed to vibrate in his skull as the pain of it disappeared for a moment, only to return as a throb.

“Don’t you ever come near my brother again,” Itachi growled as he stood over him. “I know what kind of shit you are and hang around. And I saw your records. I don’t want you anywhere near him.”

Deidara frowned, rubbing his cheek. “Nothing happened, un,” he grumbled, why Itachi thought he would hurt his brother was beyond him. He stood up straighter and moved to the other side of the bed to get more distance between the two. “What records?”

“My father has a file on you,” Itachi replied. “Drug dealing, drug use, arson, breaking and entering, theft, underage drinking, police assault, prostitution, drag racing. Our father is the fucking head of police! Are you stupid getting involved with my brother?” Deidara rolled his eyes a little, unfazed by the list of his transgressions. “I went to a shit load of trouble to get you to do this assignment only, not to invite you into our life.”

“Does it look like I’m trying?” Deidara asked, shrugging. “I just got my friend to give him a ride and he invited me in. Shocking, dude, baddy-waddy people like me,” his voice turned babylike, “can do nice things too. You’re the one who broke your phone in a raging hissy fit, un. Did you get a new one?” he asked in mock innocence. Itachi glared at him and pulled his new phone out of his pocket to show him. He had told his mother he’d dropped his old one in the parking lot at school and it had gotten run over.

“I should make you pay for it,” Itachi growled, wanting to beat the smug look off Deidara’s face.

“Why would I pay for it?” Deidara demanded, giving a small laugh. “It was your hissy fit.” Movement across the bed caught his attention, but it was too fast to get away as Itachi jumped over the bed to wrestle him to the floor. Deidara struggled under the man, getting a hook over his leg, but Itachi was ready and pinned him down effectively. “Get the fuck off of me! What is your problem?”

“You’re my fucking problem!” Itachi snapped. “Why the hell are you getting off on giving me so much hassle?” Deidara glared at him, but gave a soft scoff. Itachi’s glared darkened, but in the silence he noticed something. Deidara looked a little different. Nicer. None of the hideous, hole-filled, marker stained old clothes he had seen him in previously. His hair looked nicer, he smelled good, too. Itachi suddenly found himself with the urge to lean closer and smell him more. He resisted. What was on that list of offenses on the file he read? “Don’t you look nice,” he commented, smirking at him knowingly.

The blond’s mouth grew smaller and thinner as his own glare deepened. Before he could respond to his question, the front door shut loudly, causing them both to jump. Itachi frowned, listening hard; he hadn’t heard a car pull into the driveway. Finally the voice he didn’t want to hear found its way up the stairs under his door as his father talked to Sasuke in the kitchen. Itachi’s heart lept a little. “You have to get out of here,” he whispered, getting off the blond and pulling him to his feet. How was he supposed to get the blond out of the house now?

He glanced at the blond, who seemed to be listening to the voice himself. He seemed to recognize it as Itachi insisted he get out again. Deidara muttered under his breath as he hurried to the window, opening it and climbing out onto the roof. “This is the second floor!” Itachi hissed under his breath. Did the blond have a death wish?! Apparently he did. Deidara glanced back at him with a grin before disappearing from sight as he jumped down. Rushing over, Itachi leaned out and stared down at the blond as he came to a rolling land into the front lawn. The blond never looked back as he snuck across it onto the side walk and disappeared around the neighbor’s trees. What a crazy idiot. Turning away from the window, he picked up his school bag and sat down at his desk to start his homework so his night could continue without the stress of the impending failed assignment.

That night he dreamed about Deidara.


	3. Chapter 3

Itachi winced at the bright lights around him, squinting as he tried to see where he was. His head turned to the side. White walls, white floors, fluorescent lights, the aura of franticness…it could only be a hospital. He’d been in them so many times when his father’s hand gotten out of control as a child. He had been ‘such a reckless child’, prone to accidents, and fights with neighborhood boys. No one believed anyone’s story, but his father’s. Not that he had ever given a story to counter it. He hated coming to the hospital, his mother crying over his injuries, his father looking on with the hint of a threat. Why was he here now though? He couldn’t remember. They were pushing him into an operating room. Through the circle of doctors, he saw Deidara leaning against the wall. Why was he in the hospital? Why was he in this room? Why did he look so scared? Like a deer caught in headlights, a mouse with a hawk nearby. Why was he so scared? Deidara didn’t seem like the kind of person who gets scared.

His father turned and saw the blond, his face growing angry. Itachi tried to sit up and yell. Yell for his father to leave him alone, yell for Deidara to run, but he couldn’t move, he couldn’t talk, and his father stalked up to him. Deidara was just rooted to the spot as he was as Fugaku approached, grabbing and slamming his head against the wall over and over again. Itachi yelled for the doctors to help the blond, but they didn’t react. There was so much blood. Itachi squeezed his eyes shut, not wanting to see, but he could still hear the thud of skull hitting wall. Over and over.

Itachi’s eyes flew open with a start, sitting up in bed. He was panting heavily, staring around to regain his bearings. Just a dream. He glanced at his clock, which stated 2:00AM, and dropped back onto the bed, rubbing his hand over his face to push his bangs away from where they stuck to his face from sweat. The thudding didn’t stop though. Sitting up again, he glanced at the door then the window. What the hell…

“What the hell are you doing here?” Itachi demanded as he opened the window. “And how did you get up here?” He glanced down briefly then turned to Deidara. Coincidence? It was odd to dream about him and for him to suddenly show up. Climbing in through his window no less.

“Can I stay here tonight?” Deidara asked, slipping his shoes off without touching them and sat down on Itachi’s bed.

“…huh?” Itachi frowned, taken aback by the question. The moron expected him to just let him sleep here after all he’d been through? Let him go through his things and take stuff while he slept. “Hell no, go home!” he hissed, pointing at the window.

“Please?” Deidara asked, the softness in his voice catching him off guard. Reaching over, Itachi turned the nightstand light on so he could see him.

“You look like shit,” he commented, giving him a onceover. He was still in the clothes he’d worn earlier, but they were distinctly rumpled and his hair was disheveled. While he still had the smell he’d had earlier, Itachi could also catch the smell of expensive wine. “Are you drunk?”

Deidara shook his head, rubbing his temple with his fingers. “Not really, un…” he mumbled. “Please can I stay? I don’t feel like walking two hours to my house in the dark, no one was answering their phones. Your place was closer.” Itachi glanced at the clock again, then back, raising his eyebrow at the blond.

“Why are you on this side of town so late?” he asked.

Deidara was quiet for a brief moment, then gave him an innocent expression. “Working,” he replied vaguely. When Itachi kept looking at him, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a roll of bills to show him before putting it away. Was he that dense that he needed more explanation? Itachi was good at math, and put two and two together, a sneer appearing on his face.

“They don’t give you rides home afterwards? Let you sleep on the couch?” he asked with a snicker. Deidara didn’t answer, apparently immune to mocking. “Too sore to walk two hours?” That one earned a glare. Itachi stared down at him with smug arrogance that wasn’t nearly as good as Deidara’s smug look, but the blond looked annoyed.

The Uchiha walked around the bed towards the door, leaving him alone in the room. There was a slight moment of panic thinking he was going to sound some alarm, but the window was still opened. He stood to move towards it slightly. A bad dive out a window was still better than Uchiha Fugaku finding him here. The man had yet to actually catch him of much of the things in his file, but he wouldn’t put it behind him to bury him in the backyard.

Itachi returned a few minutes later with a glass of water and pain relievers. Deidara stared at them, confused and suspicious, but Itachi just continued to hold them out. Without an explanation, he took the pills and downed them with the water. “Thanks,” he mumbled. “Look, just let me crash here. What do you want, un?”

“Want?” Itachi asked, confused.

“In return,” he replied with a one shoulder shrug.

Itachi stared at him, looking stunned, but shook himself out of it. “You can stay,” he said, turning away. Deidara grinned at his embarrassment. “But you have to leave before I do for school.” His grin dropped. That was really early. Deidara cursed silently, wanting to sleep a little more than three or four hours, but the way Itachi said it sounded like it was nonnegotiable. “Just stay on your side of the bed.”

Itachi sat down on his full size bed, complete with extra pillows and blankets like he just stole the bed out of a department store display. Deidara was sure the bed was like clouds to lay on, but Itachi not asking for anything in return seemed just odd. He peeled his jacket off, leaving it on the window seat so he could grab it easily if he needed to run. Finally, he climbed under the covers closest to the window and relaxed. Oh yes…just like clouds. One of the most comfortable beds he’d ever been on. He didn’t think he’d be able to wake up if he fell asleep on a bed like this and if he did he definitely wouldn’t want to get off it. Someone would need to pry him off with a crowbar or something.

“Thanks,” he whispered softly, not sure if Itachi had gone back to sleep or not. When he didn’t get a response, he decided he’d fallen asleep so he pulled his hairtie out and slipped it around his wrist. With a heavy sigh, he let himself drift off, not wanting to waste a minute of sleep.

Itachi waited until the blond stopped shifting around and fell asleep before rolling over to face him, watching the covers rise and fall with steady breathing. Why had he agreed to let him stay? If his father came in and saw him there, his dream might come true. When he had offered to do something for him in exchange for staying over, it was so pathetic he caved. He should have told him no. Now he was asleep and Itachi didn't really want to wake him up to tell him he changed his mind, not because he was an asshole, but he doubted the blond would believe him if he just came out and told him that his father would beat them to death before they could explain themselves. Sliding out of bed, he went to the door and locked it for good measure, crawling back under the covers to face the sleeping blond next to him. Itachi watched him until the night took him into his own fretful sleep, but at least he didn’t dream again.

When Itachi opened his eyes again, the sun was coming up and his alarm was beeping for him to get up and shower. Rising from the comfortable bed, he stumbled over to his dresser and closet to pull out his clothes for the school day. He could hear voices in the kitchen, his parents were already awake. Suddenly remembering his nighttime visitor, he whirled around, first glancing at the door as though he expected his father standing there with Deidara in his hold – the door was still locked, then to the bed to wake up the blond and tell him to hurry and get out – the bed was empty. A piece of paper taped to the now nearly shut window caught his attention as he looked around the room for Deidara.

Thanks.

Itachi pulled the paper off, reading the word again then tossed it into the trashcan next to his desk. He did not understand the blond at all.

Deidara tapped his foot on the hood of the car he laid on. He hadn’t gone to classes that day, but returned to school to meet with Itachi. He needed to talk to him. Stat. He would track him down inside the school, but he had weighed the pros and cons of that and concluded that if none of his teachers spotted him, Itachi would most likely turn him in if he interrupted his classes. He’d been so tired after waking up when the shower in the master bedroom turn on and grabbing his shoes and jacket to crawl out the window, he’d left his bag behind. He’d woken up on a park bench halfway between his house and Itachi’s and panicked thinking some idiot had stolen it, but when he couldn’t remember if he had it when he left the Uchiha’s house. That bag contained important items in it he couldn’t go long without, so checking with Itachi was first before going into full blown panic.

“What the hell are you doing on my car?” He grinned, stretching his back against the warm RX-7’s hood. It beeped as Itachi unlocked it with his keys.

“Working on my tan,” he replied, opening his eyes and sitting up to face him. Itachi’s dark eyes narrowed at him, waiting patiently for him to give him the real reason. “I think I left my bag at your place, un,” he told him, pulling his cigarette pack out of his pocket and chose one.

Itachi waited for more of an explanation, but Deidara left him alone to figure that one out while he lit his cigarette. “And you want me to take you to the house so you can get it?” Itachi asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Sure! That’d work,” Deidara said, moving to the passenger side of Itachi’s car. He was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. He gave Itachi a questioning look at his set expression.

“I’ll bring it to your place later,” Itachi said.

“No, now. I need it,” Deidara frowned, shrugging his shoulder off. “Trust me, you don’t want that bag in your room.”

A fearful look crossed Itachi’s face for a brief second, before it slipped back to a stoic one. He began to protest but a car pulling up behind him stopped him. The brunette turned to yell at the person blocking his car, but stopped short when he saw his father get out of the familiar car. Fugaku approached him, pushing Deidara out of the way like a tree branch in his path and shoved an old, dark green messenger bag against Itachi’s chest. Stumbling into the car, Itachi’s hands automatically moved up to grab the bag.

“What the hell is this?” Fugaku demanded angrily. “You’re bringing drugs in my house now?”

Itachi blinked, eyes wide in confusion. Drugs? He glanced down at the bag in his hands, then passed his father at Deidara who was eyeing the bag with guilty recognition. The bastard. Fugaku’s eyes followed Itachi’s, seeing Deidara for the first time with his arrival. Itachi felt his chest tighten at the angry look Fugaku was giving the blond.

“You.”

Deidara gave a winning smirk and waved his fingers at him. His casual air was marred by the way he’d take a step back and looked poised to run. “Yeah I go to school here, seems like something you’d already know, un,” he said, then tossed the cigarette down and stamped it out. “That’s my bag, un. Did you steal it? Mr. Uchiha? Trying to plant evidence to get me busted?”

“This is yours?” Fugaku demanded. “What the hell were you doing in my house?”

“Admiring the architecture, un,” Deidara replied. Itachi stared at him, half impressed, half horrified.

“Possession is violation on your parole,” Fugaku stated.

Deidara gave a short laugh, his foot inching slightly to give him better sprinting position. “Can’t prove you didn’t plant them in my bag, un,” he countered. 

“Carrying drugs onto school property is also illegal.”

“Good thing I didn’t carry them on, un,” he stated, “you did. Gonna arrest yourself?” Itachi felt panic rising in his chest even more, his fists clenched so hard they shook. “Also, you can’t arrest me on school grounds without a warrant, per a judge’s order, so…” 

Itachi glanced at his father, watching him struggle with his words. He was trying to find a loophole in his knowledge of the law, but the angry look on his face told him the blond had somehow one-upped his father. The bag was snatched out of his hands and riffled through. His father took something out and shoved it into the blond’s chest, knocking him back against the other car. He loomed over the blond who looked smaller than normal as Fugaku leaned down. “Soon,” Itachi heard his father whisper angrily. Deidara didn’t bat an eyelash as the head Uchiha turned away, demanding Itachi to get in the car. Itachi started to protest, but his father repeated himself angrily and he quickly obeyed, getting into the passenger seat, glancing back only to give his car a wistful look as his father got in.

Deidara watched the car go, a thoughtful look on his face as he watched them turn out onto the street and drive away. When they were out of sight, he set his bag down on Itachi’s car and dug through it. Fugaku had only found the weed. Excellent. He never thought Fugaku was that smart anyway. It had been stupid to leave it behind, but how could he have predicted he needed to make a getaway out the window? One shouldn’t have to prepare for such an incident, but he was supposed planning ahead for things would have made for better out comes.

He was so bad at planning ahead.

A grey BMW pulled up next to him where Fugaku had been moments before. The tinted window rolled down, causing Deidara to smile brightly at the person inside. He’d nearly forgotten that he’d promised this person company tonight. Deidara was never good at remembering the names of people who wanted his company in exchange for money. He knew them by their cars. That was easiest and they never asked to be remembered, wanting to hide their shame of fantasies taken out on him from the rest of the world. It would be simple to find out their names and destroy them and their reputations, but then where would he get all his money? Unfortunately for Mr. BMW, Deidara wasn’t in the mood to entertain all night. After spending a dinner of teasing foreplay and a short hour, Deidara had the man return him to the school and waved him away.

The parking lot was empty except for Itachi’s black car. He examined it, peering inside the windows and crawling down to look underneath it for a moment. This was really a beautiful car. He stood back and thought for a moment, replaying Itachi’s approach to the car earlier in his mind. He had unlocked it hadn’t he. If the alarm went off when he opened the door, he was pretty sure he could disable the alarm in less than thirty seconds. He reached out and opened the driver side door. Nothing happened. Grinning happily, he sat down and worked to hot wire the car. He drove the car out onto the street, his fingers moving between shifting gears and feelings over the nice leather interior. When he came closer to Itachi’s house, he turned the lights off and quietly crept up and parked the car in the street in front of the house, turning it off. Every yard had their grass cut, no bush or flower out of place in their gardens. No one played outside on the pearly white sidewalks after ten. How boring living here would be. Deidara was quite happy to be out and about whenever he wanted without worrying about what neighbors would think. Other than the others in his apartment building, the people who lived in the building next to his were artists for hire, sometimes known as squatters. Would they really complain about the apartment not clipping the hedges if they had any?

Strolling up the driveway he had hurried away from early that morning, Deidara gave another glance at the houses and scenes within the windows. People were getting ready for bed, naïve to the world that came alive at night, waking up the city with music and neon lights. A pity they didn’t know it. They might change their ways and not be so stiff with their desire for perfect things. They might even forget to cut the grass for a week. The light thunk of his combat boots on the concrete slabs stopped at the Uchiha’s house. He was sure this was the most daring, reckless thing he’d ever done. Sure he’d gotten under Uchiha’s skin as much as he could, but he had never actually repeatedly come to his house. Actually he had never been to his house before until he had spotted Sasuke looking annoyed and worried outside the school.

All the lights were out in the house despite it only being 10:45 at night, save for maybe a hallway light on the first floor to ward off robbers who might wonder if the house’s occupants were home. Looking up, he saw another light was on and grinned. Excellent. He jumped up to grab an overhanging branch of a tree in the front yard and climbed up. Carefully crawling onto an outer branch, he jumped onto the overhanging roof of the first floor and went over to the dimly lighted window, knocking softly on the glass.

He knew the first question he would receive would be, sad thing was he didn’t have a good answer to it.

“What do you want now?” Itachi asked in a grumble, opening the window once again. “If you’re asking for a place to stay, the answer is no.”

Deidara shook his head and sat on the roof by the window, obviously not welcome since Itachi didn’t open it enough to allow him inside. “I guess I came to apologize for getting you in trouble, un,” Deidara told him with a shrug.

“I got myself into trouble letting you into the house in the first place,” Itachi replied from his position on his window seat and continued reading his book.

That was very true, though Itachi wouldn’t have known before. “My bad,” Deidara said casually. “I brought your car from school, un. As an apolo—“

He was cut off as the window flew open and Itachi grabbed his shirt violently. “What?” the brunette demanded in an angry hiss. “What the hell were you doing touching my car?!”

“It was super lonely in the parking lot. So I hotwired it and brought it over,” Deidara told him, Itachi’s fist tightening its angry grip. “Hey! Seriously, I felt bad. I didn’t meant to get you in trouble…” his voice trailed off as he looked at Itachi, seeing him in the light of his reading lamp. Itachi was dressed in light cloth pants for sleeping and a sleeveless muscle shirt, but Itachi’s muscles weren’t what caught his attention. Reaching out, he lightly touched the ugly looking bruise on Itachi’s jaw. It looked faded and old. Another darker, newer one could be seen under the strap of his shirt. His wrist was grabbed painfully tight to keep it away from Itachi’s body. Itachi was glaring at him, looking like he wanted to slam the window down on his arm.

“Are you okay?” Deidara asked quietly.

“I’m fine,” Itachi snapped angrily. “Nothing is wrong.” Deidara stared at him, wondering how the brunette could say such a blatant lie. “Fuck off,” Itachi growled at him. “Go back to sucking dick for lunch money.”

Deidara blinked slowly, his head tilting slightly to the side to observe him. He never expected Uchiha to be a dick in his own home too. “Why do you let him do it, un?” he asked.

Itachi looked ready to shove him off the roof for a moment, but he finally let go of the blond and reached for the window. “I appreciate your concern, but it’s none of your business. Go home. Leave me alone.” He shut the window and closed the blinds.

The reading light went out, leaving Deidara alone in the sleeping night.


	4. Chapter 4

There is nothing perfect in this world. There is no such thing as a perfect life, no perfect house, no perfect person. Many seem to get this confused with the enviousness of human nature. They see a person who seems to have a perfect life, but it is only what they choose to objectify the person. In reality, the object of perfect might view the viewer’s life perfect compared to theirs. There is no perfect in this world. Deidara had just learned this.

Slowly walking down the street, his messenger bag slung over his shoulder, Deidara thought over what had gone on the night before. He’d left Itachi’s home after his talk with the Uchiha, having been given the cold shoulder by the darkness of the room. He hadn’t slept that night, his mind too awake to allow his body to sleep. Uchiha Fugaku was an abusive police officer on the street, rough and cruel, but Deidara hadn’t expected him to be abusive in his own home. The Uchiha’s were supposed to be this perfect, rich, and successful family. There was an ugly secret in the Uchiha’s family. His aggression came home. His own eldest son. The ‘perfect’ Uchiha Itachi.

He wasn’t sure what to make all this, how to process this new information he discovered. He wondered if he should report it, but it really was none of his business and nothing would come of it if Itachi didn’t back it up. He knew Itachi sometimes wore make-up, but he assumed it was to cover up skin imperfection. He had also been absent a few times, but he always came back with a note and made up his grades. Itachi didn’t seem to have friends at school, no one knew a thing.

“Hey!”

The shout startled him out of his thoughts. He stopped and turned to see the familiar shiny Mazda pull up next to him. The window was rolled down and Uchiha Itachi looked at him from the driver’s seat. “Will you get in my car now?” he asked. “I’d like to speak to you…seriously.”

Obediently, Deidara slid into the passenger’s side of the pretty car, looking over at Itachi. He was dressed in his uniform just as Deidara was, both on their way to school, though Itachi was extremely out of his way. They drove on in silence, Deidara happy with the air conditioning, until they reached the school grounds. Itachi pulled up to the curb a block from the school, letting the engine idle. Deidara began to turn to look at Itachi questioningly, but Itachi did it for him, grabbing him by collar and pulling him across the seats.

“Don’t tell anyone what you saw last night,” he growled, threateningly. He held him tight as Deidara struggled, forcing him to look him in the eye. Their faces were almost touching. “I’m serious,” he snapped before Deidara could assure him that he wouldn’t.

“Why not?” Deidara growled, still trying to struggle against his grip. “He deserves to be put away.”

“It is none of your business,” Itachi said, emphasizing each word. “I don’t need the pity of a drugged up whore.”

Deidara gave a huff and rolled his eyes, shoving the brunette off him. “Sticks and stones,” he commented. “Whatever man. You owe me three hundred bucks, un.”

“What?”

“I told you I don’t get in the car for less than three hundred,” Deidara smirked, twirling a strand of hair. “Not my fault you forgot.”

Itachi glared at him, then grabbed him again. “Pretty sure you gotta give more for three hundred,” he said, kissing him none too softly. He felt Deidara flinch and struggle again, a fist jabbing at his ribs painfully. He left go, wincing as Deidara shrank to the other side of the car, anger seeping from him. He didn’t seem able to find the words to express that anger. With an angry growl, Deidara turned and pushed himself out of the car and onto the street. The door slammed shut with Deidara’s rage and Itachi resisted the urge to give his car a reassuring pat to sooth it from the abuse it had just received. Itachi watched him storm away with some amusement. Maybe he was a picky whore. Then again, he didn’t give him money. Itachi sneered at his back. At least he wasn’t going to tell anyone. If he was angry, he wouldn’t do something he thought would help him.

Nothing was going on that night. A night off from everything, thank god. A night to relax and brood over the idiocy of Itachi and invent ways to murder him. He had thought of five so far.

“Deidara, are you just gonna lay there or are you going to help out?”

“I believe the correct grammar is ‘lie there’, un.”

“At least get off the top of the car while we’re working on it,” was the counter.

Deidara rolled over onto his stomach and crawled over to lean over the side of the car he’d been resting on to look down at the men working. One was long and tall, dark skin and buzzed head. The other was average height with blue hair that stuck up straight. The blue haired man looked up at Deidara with a shake of his head, clicking his tongue piercing against his teeth, though he was grinning as he did so.

“I’m not in your way,” Deidara told the taller man. “Plus I was here first, wasn’t I Daichi?” He grinned at his own childish whining. He rolled over and laid back down. “I’m happily punched out,” he told them, crossing his leg over his knee.

“You’re angry, Deidara,” Daichi said, going back to his work. The new Skyline was getting taken apart and put back together. Some parts were added, some replaced. Daichi didn’t trust factory products.

“No, I’m not,” Dediara lied, glaring at the concrete ceiling of Daichi’s garage above him.

He heard a sign below him and could practically see the taller man glancing at Daichi in disbelief. Well, his lie hadn’t been that great anyway. He had come to the garage early, having skipped the last few periods of school, refusing to listen to Daichi telling him off for missing school time and had just climbed up to lay on the car for a few hours after stealing someone’s leftovers from the fridge. He was definitely angry at Itachi. Daichi could always tell, even if he was trying to hide it from others. He had known him for nine years now, probably how he knew. The others knew because he’d come over early from school and brushed his teeth about ten times. 

“What kind of car is this?” Daichi asked from under the hood.

No one answered. Frowning, Deidara rolled back onto his stomach to look at the mechanic. “Skyline,” he replied. Daichi made an ‘uh huh?’ noise, signaling he wanted more information. Daichi knew more about cars than anyone Deidara had met, why was he asking him? He glanced down at the car he was on. “R35 GTR, un,” he finally replied. “Why?”

“Come look at the engine,” Daichi said, his voice sloshy. He must have put a new piece of candy in his mouth. Daichi had a sweet tooth, using candy as a replacement for other vices. He lifted his head up, looking over at Deidara again. The blond sighed, sliding down off the car. He knew what he was trying to do. He had a knack for knowing how to calm someone’s anger, or at least make them forget it for a while. The taller man glanced at Daichi, then shook his head and left the two of them to work. Smart man. Standing on his toes, Deidara leaned over the engine and watched Daichi work, answering questions Daichi drilled him with, listening while he explained something he didn’t know. Daichi guessed right, as usual. Within an hour Deidara had forgotten Itachi.

“Hey Dei.”

“Yah?” Deidara pushed his bangs off his face where they stuck from sweat and engine grease.

Daichi picked up a cloth rag and wiped his hands, though it didn’t do much as the rag had been used many times. “Do something for me?” he said, dropping down into the old sofa with a tired sigh. They’d been working several hours, the garage empty except for the two of them. The doors were still wide open, letting in the night breeze that stirred the humid air around them. Deidara raised his eyebrow, turning to look at him curiously. A favor? “I’ll buy you dinner.”

“Not that big of a favor then,” Deidara snorted.

“No,” Daichi grinned at him, tipping candy in his mouth. “I think it’s time to find a new location where we can all meet. Somewhere with challenges, but not too easy for prying eyes.” He let his head fall back against the back of the sofa, looking up at the ceiling. “I was thinking those mountain passes. The one that twists and turns. Should be fun, but I need you to make sure it’s secure and also…safe-ish.”

“‘Safe-ish’?” Deidara snickered.

“Gotta have a bit of danger to it,” Daichi shrugged. “I mean that cars aren’t going to go flying off the road if they’re going too fast. Go ride it for me. I’ll clean up here.”

Deidara nodded and went to go shower, pulling down his spare clothes from the bunks Daichi kept for his workers and dragged them on. He hadn’t realized how late he and Daichi had been working. The roads outside of the city were dark; once he reached the bottom of the mountain paths, there were very few street lights. The roads only had two lanes – one going towards the top, the other towards civilization. The speed limit was only 20 miles per hour, around the curves it was only 5 or 10. Utterly boring. Very few people actually drove up here because of the death trap of twists and turns. If you went too fast, you could go over the side of the road. Unless, of course, you knew how to handle your car. But really, how many people thought they could handle their car. Thinking they could being the key word that lead towards death.

Deidara stopped his motorcycle as he approached the paths, cutting the engine and pushing his visor up with a frown. The roads were empty and dark save for two spots of headlights that were winding down the roads, much too fast for a normal car. He rolled his bike to the side of the road and watched. Perhaps it was a drunk driver. No. There was gracefulness of the drifting that was startling, even to the untrained eye. Deidara’s eyes were not untrained. This driving was amazing and he could only see the headlights. Stepping off the road, he crept down low by a bush as the car finally reached the bottom. It pulled out and drifted into a stop where the danger had passed and the road widened into a safer road.

The blond’s eyes widened a little, then squinted in disbelief. No way. He shook his head with a scoff at himself. It wasn’t as if there was only one black Mazda in the world, but his skeptical grin dropped off his face as Uchiha Itachi stepped out and looked up at the road he had just come down, surveying it from afar. He seemed satisfied as he got back into his car and drove off, wheels kicking up dust that slowly settled as Deidara stepped out into the road and stared in shock after him.

“…no fucking way…”

Deidara arrived at school early the next morning, planting himself in the center of the steps to the front door where people had to go around him to get inside, eyeing him as they went. Teachers stopped short on their walk up the stairs, confusion and suspicion etched on their face. He did have a reputation, but never enough that he could be caught doing something wrong. Deidara covered his tracks too well. No proof, but every teacher knew him to be disruptive, prone to pranks when he grew bored. That he was there early made them think he was up to something, but Deidara ignored them all, staring at the parking lot like a predator. His prey had its habits and it’s always good to have the advantage in a confrontation. Sadly he couldn’t pick the time and place because the school did that for him.

“If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought you were waiting for me,” Itachi said, narrowing his eyes as he approached the school steps. In the sea of dark hair and eyed Japanese teenagers, a blond with blue eyes was easy to catch staring at him the whole walk from his car. He stopped in front of Deidara, still looking down at him even though he was two steps below the blond, scowling when the staring didn’t stop. “What do you want?”

“Who taught you how to drive?” was all Deidara asked him.

Itachi looked confused at the question. “Some old man from driving school,” he replied.

Deidara’s scowl deepened. “Who taught you how to drift, un,” he whispered as another group of students walked by. “Who taught you how drift down the curves on the mountain pass like you did last night?”

Itachi blinked in shock, staring down at him for a moment before he smirked, “you were watching me?” Deidara’s lip curled slightly, feeling dirty by his amusement. “I’m flattered,” the brunette said as he walked around him and into the school. Deidara stammered after him, trying to defend himself. He had not been watching him like a fan girl who screamed at him playing sports. When the Uchiha was too far away, he bore a whole in the back of his uniform with a glare until he disappeared around the corner. He would get a proper answer from him. His driving was amazing. Almost as good as Daichi…nah. No one was as good as Daichi.

What had he told himself about the Uchiha house? Something about not going there again? Too risky. Top-gun-head-of-police Uchiha would be thrilled with the opportunity to catch him, lock him in jail and throw away the key. Police weren’t allowed to shoot anyone unless the suspect pulled a weapon on them and seemed like a threat. But who says a pen can’t look like a knife? Uchiha would most likely come up with some excuse to be able to shoot him at least once. He was that kind of asshole.

A sudden thought came to him as he sat on the grass where his second period art class was sketching trees. Wouldn’t it be so much fun to sneak right under his nose? Deidara always loved the thrill of a challenge.

What had he told himself about the Uchiha house? He couldn’t remember anymore.


	5. Chapter 5

Hot water felt amazing against his sweaty body as he stepped into the school showers after track. He shifted from side to side, letting the water act as a massage for his muscles. He’d been on the team for a few years now, loving the feeling of running. In the winter months when it was too cold for track, he played basketball, but not as diligently as he ran track. Basketball was a hobby. He loved running. He loved where his mind went while he was running, no worries, no restraints, just the free feeling of his body cutting through the wind and his muscles pushing him forward.

After drying himself off, he pulled on his street clothes of pants, tank top shirt and jacket. It was finally getting colder outside. As hot as summer had been a week ago, winter was punching itself into the season before autumn had a good chance to peek its head in and say hello. With the sudden changes in weather, he’d have to watch his health carefully. He hated the cold. The ride home took a little longer than usual as he let his car warm up inside while he got coffee from the cafeteria that stayed open for the school athletes after practice.

The voices in the kitchen told him Sasuke had a friend over. That was fine, so long as Sasuke didn’t expect him to entertain them. Itachi hated socializing. His entry into the kitchen for a snack earned Sasuke’s ‘friend’ a curse from the older Uchiha as he turned heal and walked back out again.

“And I thought you’d be pleased to see me, un,” Deidara said, sitting at the island with Sasuke again, a few sandwiches in between them and mugs of what smelled like hot chocolate. The blond had a mischievous twinkle in his eye that Itachi did not like. Not two hours ago, all Itachi had received was glares from the blond. He passed him several times in the hallways to class, though he was unsure if this was because Deidara was suddenly going to all his classes or if the blond was going out of his way to try talking to him again about his driving. After ignoring him the first two times, Deidara had given the back of his knee a tap causing him to fall over in the crowd. Itachi kept an eye out for the blond after that, trying to get back at the blond for embarrassing him. He had stopped after Deidara elbowed Itachi quite hard in the ribs for puffing softly behind his ear. He had steered away from him during gym class. Why did he look so pleased now?

“I told you to stay away from my brother,” Itachi growled, stepping into the kitchen again. Sasuke gave his brother a reproachful look, obviously ready to protest that Itachi had no say in who he talked to. Before he could speak, Itachi gave him a silencing look. “You. Upstairs now,” he said to the blond, pointing to the stairs.

Deidara and Sasuke shared a look, but slid off the counter stool, picking up two uneaten sandwiches and his mug and followed Itachi up to his room again. He went in when Itachi held the door open for him, deciding it was useless telling him not to eat in his room. Deidara sat at his desk and crossed his legs. Itachi leaned against his closed door, watching him eat another sandwich, then drink the hot chocolate slowly as if savoring each drop. There were many things he could ask Deidara, but he knew the blond would reply sarcastically if he didn’t word his question right. He thought about it for a minute or two as Deidara finished the sandwich and hot chocolate. He was using his mug, he noticed irritably. Sasuke must have thought they were friends.

The blond suddenly cleared his throat and held up three fingers. “Three,” he said.

“What?” Itachi questioned.

“You can ask me three questions,” Deidara replied, picking up the last sandwich from his knee where it had been placed to wait for its ultimate demise. “Since you’re obviously bursting to ask something, un.” He rolled his eyes then began eating hungrily. It suddenly occurred to Itachi that the blond seemed cold. Maybe he didn’t like the cold either, but he looked underdressed in his school uniform with only his old hoodie on.

“What do you want with my brother?” Itachi asked him, crossing his arms over his chest. He waited, but the blond made a gesture for him to continue. “Why do you want to know where I learned to drift and why are you so pissed I kissed you?”

Deidara snorted in distaste into the mug making it echo slightly. He drank the rest of it, looking down at the empty mug a little sadly before answering. “Cause you think just cause I’ve done it for money means I can’t say no,” he said. “Would you have done it to one of our other classmates, un? No. You think no doesn’t exist for people like me.”

“So you’re a whore with an ego,” Itachi comment, looking right at him when he said it. “Should I have thrown money at you first?” The blond looked angry again, but it disappeared quickly in a resigned sort of way. “And the other answers?”

“I want nothing to do with your brother,” Deidara replied, setting the mug down on the desk. “I like talking to him. He’s nice. Doesn’t really know or care who I am and what I do.” He paused for a moment, then frowned. “I want to know where you learned to drift because I can count on the number of times I’ve seen someone drive like on one hand, un. I can’t imagine it was from dear ol’ dad teaching you since he’s been trying to bust street racers for years.”

Itachi blinked, glancing away from him finally. His father did hate street racers. “I saw them once, when I was younger,” he finally replied, shrugging as if it wasn’t important. “My father hated them, kept going off that he couldn’t go after them – we were on vacation, but I was fascinated how they drifted around the curves and the way they handled their cars. Ever since I learned to drive, I’ve been practicing it.”

“You taught yourself?” Itachi nodded, noting the look of disbelief on the blonds face. He watched the blond glance around the room for a moment, taking it in then glanced out the window. “Man, Daichi’d love to meet you,” he mumbled to himself, barely audible.

“Who’s Daichi?” Itachi asked before he could stop himself.

“No one,” Deidara replied, innocently. “My boss.”

“What boss?” Itachi asked, confused. “You have a job? Is it your pimp?”

Deidara snorted, seeming to find what he said highly amusing. “No, my other profession.”

“Your dealer?”

Still Deidara shook his head, his smirk turning into a boyish grin. It threw all his feminine features out of whack, but looked nice on his face. “He’s not really my boss, but I work for him and he gives me a home.”

“The apartment?” Itachi asked, tilting his head to the side slightly. “I thought that place was owned by the city or something.”

“Nope, I rent the place,” Deidara said with a one shoulder shrug. “That’s not really my home, just where I stay.” Deidara was watching him try to figure out what he was talking about. He was trying to get him to ask and Itachi wasn’t going to fall for that. He didn’t want to be friendly with the blond. Instead, he picked up his homework books and went to his bed, laying down on his stomach and opened them. When Deidara questioned what he was doing, he simply responded that he had homework and Deidara knew the way out.

Deidara didn’t leave, but Itachi tuned his presence out of his mind quite efficiently. He was nearly finished when he rubbed his eyes, glancing at the clock to see if it was nearly time for his parents to be home when he noticed the blond was still there. He started to scold him, but saw he was asleep, curled up in his chair with his head resting on his arm draped over the back of it. He sighed and went back to finishing his homework. He didn’t want grief and had a feeling he would get it if he woke the temperamental blond. It wasn’t until his stomach made itself known in the form of an grumble like an old man complaining about his aches did he realized how late it was. He could smell his mother’s cooking coming up the stairs and Sasuke chattering with their father about school. He’d be coming up to question him about his classes soon.

He sat up suddenly, panic gripping him.

Fugaku was home.

Deidara was still here.

“Shit,” he cursed, jumping up to hurry over to the blond, shaking him. “Hey! Wake up,” he hissed urgently. He heard the beginnings of a loud groan of complaint, but Itachi silenced it with a hand over his mouth. Deidara struggled, but stopped when Itachi shook his head, whispering frantically, “my father is home.” Deidara struggled again, trying to throw Itachi off to hurry to the window. Itachi’s door opened before Itachi could release him.

The silence in the room was almost thick enough to swim in. No one moved. No one was stupid enough to move. Fugaku broke the silence.

“What is this?” A simple question. Simple, but terribly weighed down by the glare of his father. Itachi noticed he was still wearing his gun, fingers twitched like he would grab it.

“Tutoring,” Itachi said, saying the first thing that came to mind.

“Bullshit.” Fugaku walked into the room and picked up one of the books open on the bed. AP Chemistry. “He couldn’t pass basic math, let alone fucking chemistry!” Deidara jumped out of the way of the book as it was thrown towards him. Fugaku caught his arm and yanked him down to his knees, his fist colliding with the side of Deidara’s head. “What the hell do you think you’re doing in my house?” he nearly spat at Deidara.

“Nothing illegal,” Deidara snapped back, wincing at the blow, but still stubborn. “Get off me!” Itachi grimaced as the struggle rewarded the blond with a twist of his arm that forced him further down on the ground.

“He wasn’t doing anything!” Itachi insisted, taking a step closer. “Let him go.”

“You stay out of this,” his father growled at him warningly.

“Honey!” his mother called up the stairs. “Dinner’s ready!”

They all froze, Itachi staring imploringly at is father. One of his biggest fears was that he would begin taking his rage out on his mother or brother. So many years and he hadn’t yet, but his anger at Deidara’s presence might push him to it. Finally, Fugaku dragged Deidara to his feet and shoved him against the wall. “Get out of my house,” he growled, bearing down at him.

“No problem,” Deidara said, sliding across the wall to the door.

“You,” Fugaku jabbed his finger at Itachi. “Get downstairs.”

“Oh, hello,” said the woman in the kitchen when the three of them reached the bottom. “Itachi, I didn’t know you had a friend over.”

“We’re not friends,” Itachi said, staring at the floor as he hurried into the dining room.

“Oh,” his mother watched him, giving a quizzical look, then smiled at Deidara in a friendly manner. “Would you like to stay for dinner…?” she trailed off, waiting for him to introduce himself.

“Sorry, Mrs. Uchiha,” he said, going to the door to put his shoes on, not giving his name. “Gotta go!” Itachi watched him hurry out the door, hearing a motorcycle rev up and drive away.

“He brought you here on his motorcycle?” Itachi muttered out of the corner of his mouth, glaring at his brother.

Sasuke nodded with a small, but thrilled grin as his parents came in, Fugaku giving him an angry look as they sat down to eat their dinner.

Deidara pulled up to a café and parked in the small loading area around the back. Hoping off, he rubbed his arms to put some warmth in and climbed the stairs to the apartment above the café and knocked twice. He only had a few minutes to wait, stamping his feet a little to get warmth back into them. Biking in his school uniform was probably a bad idea. The door opened and Rin answered the door, smiling brightly at him.

“Hello, Dei,” she said, ushering him inside. 

“Hey, Rin,” he kicked his shoes off and hurried into the living room to dive under the kotatsu where Daichi sat with a beer and the remains of a hot pot dinner for two. He glanced into the pot hopefully and Daichi pushed his empty bowl over to him and Deidara happily filled his bowl with the remains of the hot pot. Rin joined them, bringing him a glass of melon juice. “So I went to look at that place you mentioned,” he began, munching on a piece of radish.

“Oh?” Daichi inquired as Rin sat down next to him with her tea. “How’d it check out?”

“I didn’t get a chance to ride it,” he admitted. “There was someone already drifting down, un.”

“Who?” they both asked. “Toshiya?” Daichi smirked. “Getting bored with his practice maybe.”

“Nope,” Deidara grinned, leaning forward conspiratorially. “Uchiha Fugaku’s son. In his pretty Mazda RX-7. He’s a year ahead of me at school, un.”

“Uchiha’s son?” Daichi stared at him. 

“Yep,” Deidara said, stuffing mushrooms into his mouth before lifting the bowl up to drink the broth. “I asked him today, apparently he taught himself, un.”

“Wow,” Rin said, grinning at her husband. “Like you, huh?”

“I’m guessing Uchiha doesn’t know?” Daichi asked, looking down into his beer.

Deidara snorted. “Doubt it,” he said, setting the bowl down. “Uchiha’s a piece of work, un. But it was nuts! Itachi took each curve like he’d been born doing it. It was like watching you, un.”

Daichi picked up his bottle of beer, gently twirling it between his thumb and finger as he thought. While he did so, Deidara dug into the hotpot for any remaining food and Rin absentmindedly drew a circle on the back of Daichi’s free hand. “Deidara,” he finally said, looking over at the blond. “Are you trying to get under Uchiha’s skin again?”

He feigned an offended look before shaking his head. “I don’t really like Itachi,” he informed him. “He’s a totally dick like his father, but I figured you’d want to know about his driving before anyone else spotted him.”

Daichi gave a soft laugh and looked over at him. “Think he’ll be a rat?” he asked in a slightly serious tone.

Deidara thought for a moment, thinking of the look on Itachi’s face when he had seen the evidence on his skin from Uchiha’s anger. He thought for a moment of telling Daichi and Rin, but Itachi was right. It wasn’t his business. “Yeah, he doesn’t seem to like Uchiha either, and is in love with his car. He won’t do something stupid to lose that, un,” he finally said. He finished his drink, then looked over at Daichi with a groan. “Wait, you’re going to get me to recruit him, aren’t you?”

“You found him,” was the response.

“But I don’t like him,” Deidara grumbled.

“You don’t have to like him,” Daichi reminded him.

With a loud groan, Deidara laid backwards on the floor and gave Daichi his back, glaring at the wall. He’d been hoping Daichi would pass that off to someone else, but who was he kidding. He thought of Uchiha throwing him out and wondered if there’d be a way to talk Itachi into coming with him during school since there was only so many times he could take a gamble going over the house. He fell asleep with the kotatsu over him, much warmer than the unheated apartment, not waking when Daichi and Rin finally went to bed.

He was awakened the next morning by his phone ringing. Whatever idiot was calling him on a Saturday morning was going to pay with his foot up someone’s ass. Feeling around, he picked up his phone and answered the call, laying the phone across his face so he could didn’t have to function more than necessary.

“What?” he demanded.

Sasuke’s voice sounded on the other end, muffled and quiet as though he were trying not to be heard. “Deidara… we need help,” he whispered urgently.

“Clearly, if you’re up so early,” Deidara grumbled. He’d forgotten Sasuke had asked for his phone number.

“It’s dad,” he insisted. “Mom went out to visit grandmother and dad went off on Itachi. He’s so pissed. I think he’s going to hurt Itachi.”

“Call the cops, un,” he mumbled.

“My dad IS the cops!” Sasuke insisted. “I didn’t know why else to call. Please. He’s going to hurt my brother.”

Deidara groggily sat up, hanging up when the line cut out. Help Itachi? He frowned around the apartment living room and looked towards the front door. Both Rin and Daichi’s shoes were missing which meant they’d left to go to work. Resting his head down on the table top, he groaned sleepily. He was not the helping type. Didn’t Sasuke have other friends? Rin would be mad if she found out he could have helped someone who needed it. Dragging himself up, he stretched than went to the door to put his shoes on and locked the door behind him as he hurried down to his bike. There was a post-it note on his bike with ‘Where is your helmet??’ written on it with Rin’s handwriting. Making a guilty face though no one was around, he got on his bike and kicked it on, streaming into the road to go back to the Uchiha house.

When he arrived at the Uchiha’s neighborhood, he pulled off a street away and parked his bike off the road. Hurrying across a few yards to the Uchiha’s house, he went around to the front and climbed the tree again. Itachi’s window was closed, but with a bit of prying he got it open and climbed in. He could hear Uchiha and Itachi shouting at each other downstairs, but instead went to Sasuke’s room, peaking in. After a soft call, Sasuke poked his head out of the closet.

“You’re too old to be hiding in the closet, un,” Deidara commented, though without much insult in his voice.

“No I’m not,” Sasuke said quietly. “What are you going to do?”

“Something stupid, probably,” Deidara said, glancing at the steps. “Go get Itachi’s keys and start his car, un.”

Sasuke grabbed his arm looking terrified. “I can’t touch his car, he’d kill me!” he implored.

“Just do it, wuss,” Deidara countered, going down the stairs. He heard Sasuke disappear into Itachi’s room and come out a second later, reaching out to grip the back of his hoodie as they moved. Deidara tried to shake him off, but Sasuke didn’t let go as they reached the bottom of the stairs

Uchiha and Itachi were standing in in the open space between the kitchen and living room. Uchiha had his back to the stairs, his fingers pointing accusingly at Itachi whose face was swollen and nose bleeding from an earlier punch to the face. Facing his father, he saw the two come down first and couldn’t hide his startled and terrified expression. Uchiha turned to face the two, Deidara felt Sasuke cringe behind him, his grip tighter. Deidara wished he had a camera to capture the look on Uchiha’s face.

“Hello,” Deidara said, flashing his most winning smile. “Am I interrupting something?”

“You,” Uchiha turned fully to face him, his hand reaching for something that wasn’t at his belt. His eyes glanced to the right and Deidara followed it to see his gun in its holster on the coffee table. Yikes. “I told you to get the hell out of my house.”

“I did,” Deidara reminded him. “Came back. Obviously.” Itachi was giving him a pleading look, silently begging him to not anger his father more than he already was. Uchiha seethed, advancing on him, but Itachi reached out to grab his father’s arm.

“Don’t—” Itachi began, but Uchiha yanked his arm out and elbowed him hard in the ribs. Itachi dropped to one knee, clutching his chest.

Deidara reached back and gave Sasuke a shove towards the door as Uchiha stalked over to the coffee table. Grabbing the coat rack by the door, he jumped forward and swung, catching Uchiha’s leg causing him to crumple. Growling in rage, Uchiha stood again to advance on the blond, but a fist collided with the back of his head. Itachi grabbed Deidara’s arm and dragged him away from his father, shoving him towards the door.

“Get my bother out of here,” Itachi demanded, giving them both a shove out the front door Sasuke had opened. “Please, just get him somewhere safe.”

Sasuke opened his mouth to protest that Itachi had to come too, but the door slammed shut and yells of rage could be heard on the other side. Sasuke reached for the door, panicking for his brother, but Deidara dragged him away.

“He’s my brother!” he shouted, fighting against the blond.

“Go start the car,” Deidara told him, shoving him back. Sasuke was stronger than he looked.

“Not without—”

“I know!” Deidara snapped. “I heard you! The whole damn city heard you, un! Go start the fucking car!” He tossed Sasuke his bag, and jumped to climb up into the tree, going through Itachi’s window again and crept down the stairs.

Uchiha and Itachi were physically fighting now, but it was clear Uchiha had more experience with it than his son, though Itachi was putting up a decent fight. As he jumped to the bottom of the stairs, Uchiha grabbed hold of the back of Itachi’s neck and slammed his head down on the kitchen counter. The sound made Deidara cringe as Itachi crumpled limply onto the floor. Deidara dove for Uchiha’s gun, pulling it out and pointed it at its owner.

“Back off!” Deidara said, going into the kitchen. The click the safety being turned off was audible in the sudden silence of the room. Uchiha had frozen in the process of reaching down to grab Itachi, who had shifted only to hold his head where he had kissed the counter. Deidara didn’t even know if the gun was loaded. The stillness of the Uchiha either meant he couldn’t remember if he had taken the ammunition out, or it was indeed loaded. Deidara was hoping for the latter.

“Ha!” Uchiha suddenly sneered at him. “You’ve never fired a gun in your life, let alone shot someone. Put that down before you hurt your—” He was cut off as Deidara fired the gun at the floor by Uchiha’s feet. Paint ball counted as guns, right?

“I said, back off,” Deidara repeated calmly, glaring darkly at the man as he finally backed away obediently from his son to the other side of the room where the dining area was. Shit. Why was he doing this? He did not need another reason for this man to want him dead. He should have just left, but knew he wouldn’t be able to walk away from a scene like this. Good lord, was that what they called a conscious? He hoped not.

Itachi was stirring again, coming up onto his hands and knees with a soft groan. He didn’t look like he could see straight. His eyes moved from his father to Deidara, looking confused. “Can you walk?” Deidara asked, not taking his eyes off Uchiha.

Itachi tried, but wobbled down to his knees again. “I can crawl, I think,” he replied, and did so, moving closer to Deidara who smirked at Uchiha who was glaring at them, daring Itachi with his eyes to actually leave. When he was close enough, Deidara knelt down to help Itachi up, gun still pointed threateningly. “I told you to leave,” Itachi whispered.

“Your brother wouldn’t stop screaming at me, un,” Deidara replied. Uchiha started towards them, but Deidara lifted the gun, shooting at the dining room light causing it to explode. Uchiha threw his arms up, falling back against the glass cabinet of fancy dishes that shattered at his weight and fell on top of him. Deidara turned the safety back on shoved the gun into his pocket, grabbing Itachi and bolting for the front door again. Sasuke was sitting in the driver’s seat of Itachi’s car, looking terrified, but climbed into the smaller back seats as Deidara threw Itachi unceremoniously into the passenger’s seat and climbed into the driver’s seat himself. They were several streets away before anyone spoke.

“Are you okay?” Sasuke asked his brother in a quiet voice. Itachi felt rather than saw his hand coming around to touch his forehead, knowing he was bleeding and also knowing it would hurt to be touched. It hurt to be alive.

“I’m fine,” Itachi murmured, closing his eyes as he felt himself growing a little nauseous. He cracked and eye open to look at Deidara who was driving with his eyes intent on the road as if he knew how to drive, but didn’t like to. He was a bike rider after all. “Sasuke, give him directions to your friend’s house.”

“But—”

“Just do it…please,” Itachi said, not wanting to argue. It required too much thinking. Thinking hurt. Sasuke was silent for a moment, then obeyed, giving Deidara the directions, then the car lapsed into silence once more until they arrived. Deidara got out so Sasuke could climb out, looking reluctant as he stared at his brother. “Sasuke?”

“Yeah?” he leaned down, looking hopeful that Itachi would change his mind about making him leave him.

“Call mom,” he said quietly. “Don’t tell her, but… make her come get you. Don’t stay in the house with father alone… please.” He didn’t like abandoning him, but Sasuke would be safer with a friend, safer with their mother.

Sasuke looked disappointed, but nodded. “Where are you going?” he asked. “Mom will ask…”

“A friend’s,” Itachi replied, feeling light headed and close to passing out. He thought he might have because he didn’t remember saying good bye to Sasuke, but was suddenly aware that they were moving again.

“Where are we going?” he asked, trying to sit up straight, but failed. He felt so heavy.

“My place,” Deidara replied, drifting into a sharp corner with a quick pull of the emergency brake. Itachi couldn’t muster the energy to look surprised at his ability to drive too.

“Your apartment, or that ‘home’ you mentioned before?” he asked softly, turning his head to look at him. The blond was a nice, non-moving thing to look at. Everything else was making him feel nauseous as the car streaked by at a steady 130.

“You’re not ready for that,” Deidara answered, with a halfhearted smile. He rolled the window down suddenly and tossed a gun out. His father’s gun. “You should be fully conscious to appreciate its awesomeness.”

Itachi tried to think of what this poorer-than-dirt street kid could have that he, Itachi, would think was awesome, but the pain in his head made him fight the thinking back. He continued to watch Deidara drive, racing against and invisible opponent until he came to a stop in an alley. Itachi knew it was an alley because the sun was suddenly gone. When he had come to the apartment, he had parked across the street in the sun. He wanted to beg Deidara not to let his car get stolen, but couldn’t get words to form. He tried to push the blond away, saying he could get out of his car on his own, but failed and Deidara supported him. He felt them go up a set of stairs, felt his head hanging forward and the smell of mint in his nose as his vision was obscured by something golden blond – Deidara’s hair. He heard voices, but they were too far off for him to understand. More stairs. They hadn’t finished climbing when the world finally faded completely to black.


	6. Chapter 6

It brightened dimly several times, vague features and then darkness, voices and then darkness. How long had he been like this? A few minutes? A few days? Forever? A sudden flaring light caught his attention, the lighting of a cigarette. The burning tobacco was strong in his nose. Darkness. A cool cloth on his forehead. Darkness. More voices, they should get a doctor. No that wouldn’t be good. He could be badly injured. I don’t want the police to find him. Darkness.

When he awoke next, the blackness didn’t come again. He waited for it, staring at a wall, but it didn’t disappear. His hearing had cleared as well. He heard cars in a distance and the wind wuthering through a crack in a window somewhere. He looked up. There was a ceiling high above him. He could see clearly. Itachi started to move his head to look around, but a headache stopped him in a blinding pain. He waited for the initial onslaught to stop before trying again.

The room was bare of furniture, except the mattress he lay on and a plain old dresser that looked stolen from someone’s yard sale. Maybe it had. There were piles of clothes on the ground, but otherwise the room was bare. He realized suddenly that he recognized the graffiti covered walls. He turned his head once more to look for the room’s owner, finding him sitting next to the bed, knees drawn to his chest, resting head resting on them. Sound asleep. Questions raced through his mind. How long had he been out? Where was Sasuke? Did his mother find out? Was she having hysterics because she didn’t know where her eldest son was? Many others. Itachi’s panic made him unkind.

“Deidara!” he shouted, the loud noise making his head echo like it was hollow, but it got the desired effect. The blond startled awake, lifting his head up like it took every ounce of effort in him to do it and glanced at him. Itachi started to rail off his questions, but they didn’t seem to be hitting home.

“Hey,” Deidara murmured sleepily. “You’re awake.”

Itachi watched him rub his tired, red eyes. “What time is it?” he asked, not bothering to attempt to sit up. He wasn’t stupid. He’d been in this position before. Too many nights in the hospitals made him very smart when injured. He slowly began to wiggle and tense his extremities. Nothing felt broken, or pained. Only his head.

Deidara shrugged and yawned as he stretched. “I dunno,” he mumbled. He reached for something on the floor and picked up his phone. “6AM,” he said. “You’ve been out all day and night. You have a concussion. I think. That’s what the internet says anyway, un. I’ve been waking you up every half hour or so to make sure you’re not dead or something. That’s what the internet said to do anyway.”

Itachi stared at him, realizing the blond looked exhausted because he had been making sure he was alright. “Thanks,” he said softly. Deidara gave a nod then sleepily crawl up onto the bed with him to lay down, obviously thinking that if Itachi had woken up and was talking, he didn’t have to sleep on the floor. Itachi watched him, glad he was keeping to himself on the bed, but thought he might look cold. He was also cold, but a glanced down showed him he had not only the blankets but also a few sweaters and a hoodie piled on top of him. Deidara had made sure he stayed warm, but the room felt cold outside the blankets. He felt in his pockets under the blankets for his phone and silently groaned. He hadn’t had his phone in his pocket when he had been arguing with his father. He closed his eyes, the darkness a relief to his headache. “Why?”

“Why what?” Deidara mumbled into the mattress.

“Why did you help us?” Itachi asked softly. Us. Where was Sasuke? Had Fugaku found him? Or did he call mother like he told him? He wanted answers, but looking at Deidara, the blond might be too tired to answer many of them.

“I do have a conscious, un,” Deidara mumbled, turning his head slightly against the thin blankets. Itachi found himself missing his big comfy bed at home. Deidara had brought him to his own house to stay and recover. He was thankful, so he pushed thoughts of his significantly more comfortable bed out of his mind.

“I thought you hated me,” Itachi said with a weak grin that was an attempt at a smirk.

“I dislike you a lot,” Deidara said finally, his voice becoming more mumbled. “Sasuke called me… asked me to come… No one could just leave that behind and not do anything, un,” he told him after a pause. His eye cracked open and looked at Itachi. The small lamp on the floor lit the room enough to allow Itachi to see Deidara’s blue eyes were not contacts like he originally thought. “I set my alarm… I read that I have to wake you up every half hour for the first few hours, then every four hours… So I’ll wake you up in…” he squinted at his phone screen, “three hours.”

Itachi reached up to touch his head. There was an icepack there and under that was a bandage where his head had hit the counter. “What about you?” he asked, suddenly remembered that Fugaku had hit Deidara too, but he hadn’t had a chance to ask him before if he was alright. Itachi had never seen his father lash out at someone other than himself. Maybe he did it in the name of his job, but when he was off duty… Fugaku must really hate Deidara more than he thought. Why? Deidara certainly had a smart mouth on him, the kind his father hated, but still…

“I’ve had worse,” came the mumbled answer. Itachi started to question him about Sasuke, but the blond had fallen asleep. Exasperation filled him; Deidara was always sleeping, but then he remembered how he’d been checking on him every thirty minutes. He’d made sure that Itachi didn’t need to go to the hospital. He was probably exhausted.

When Itachi woke up again, the sun was pouring into the window of Deidara’s room. The wind was still wuthering against it, chilling the air in the room. Itachi wished Deidara had curtains. He vaguely remembered Deidara’s alarm going off earlier and the blond sluggishly asking him questions and making him follow his finger around before they both fell asleep. He wondered what time it was now, but Deidara was gone and he, after patting his pockets again, remembered he had no phone. Sitting up slowly, he was pleased to find he could without his head spinning. It throbbed painfully and he wondered if Deidara had any painkillers.

The door opened, making him start a little, but settled back down when he saw Deidara entering. There were a few others with him, but Deidara was telling them to shush as they entered then noticed Itachi sitting up. A smile came on his face when he saw him. Was it relief? He wasn’t used to seeing that sort of expression when he was looking at himself.

“Morning, sleeping beauty,” a boy behind Deidara called, several cat calls and comments about beauty sleep followed, but their voices pounded in his head and he couldn’t muster the energy to glare at them.

“Come on, Deidara,” the tallest wrapped an arm around Deidara’s waist, but the blond stepped out of it

“Get out of my room,” Deidara said, side eyeing them. He handed a bag to them, and they left, but reluctantly. “Sorry about the noise, un. I brought breakfast – or well, lunch, I guess.” Deidara moved over to the bed and sat down on the edge of the mattress, handing Itachi one of the other bags he’d been carrying. McDonald’s. Ugh. He made the little voice in his head repeat over and over that it was the thought that counted and Deidara didn’t seem to have a lot of money to spare.

“Thanks,” Itachi said, sitting against the wall for support, dragging the blankets with him to stay warm. The bag smelled good at least. Hash browns, hot cakes, egg sandwich. There was also a small conbini bag with a few cans of hot tea and onigiri inside. He wished there was coffee in the bags.

Deidara seemed to read his mind. “Apparently caffeine is bad for concussions, un,” he said, lighting a cigarette and opening his own bag of food.

“You didn’t have to do this for me…”

Deidara snorted. “I know.” He pulled out his food and began eating. He had gone for the lunch menu instead of breakfast, chowing down on a burger and an enormous order of fries. And a milkshake. “I figured you’d be pretty hungry when you woke up, un. It’d make you feel better. Oh, also,” he reached into his pocket and pulled out a bottle of Tylenol.

“Curtesy of the internet?” Itachi asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Do I look like a doctor?” Deidara snorted, watching him take a few pills and wash them down with the tea. He suddenly pointed at a door across the room. “Bathroom’s over there by the way.”

Itachi quietly thanked him again and let silence fall between them. Itachi finished his food then got up to use the bathroom. He grimaced a little as he closed the door and looked around. It wasn’t exactly dirty, but it wasn’t exactly the sparkling clean bathroom at his house. When he was finished he went to wash his hands but found no soap on the sink. With a sigh, he rinsed his hands instead and dried them on his pants. He examined his face with a cringe. He had a black eye from where his father had first hit him and a bandage around his head. He pulled the wrappings off and examined it. He hadn’t broken any skin except for a small cut near his hair line. He was surprised he didn’t have a softball size bump on his head, but he was grateful. Deidara was still sitting on the floor when he returned, savoring his milkshake one sip at a time. “Aren’t you cold? Eating that?” he asked, rubbing his arms.

“I like milkshakes,” Deidara said, pouting at him. Pouting. Actually pouting. Itachi almost laughed at the expression on his face, but he didn’t. Instead of laughing, he sat back down and drank the rest of his tea, wishing he had water.

“Why are you doing all this?” Itachi asked after a long silence. “Why did you come back?”

Deidara looked up, with a french fry hanging out of his mouth. He frowned slightly. “You asked me that already, did you forget?” Itachi shook his head, but didn’t retract his question, waiting patiently for him to answer. Deidara thought for a moment, then shrugged. “You stood up for me,” he replied. Itachi looked confused, so he continued. “You lied to try to keep Uchiha off my back, un.”

Itachi stared down at the bed, unable to look at him anymore. It was embarrassing to see his father act like that, but he had also been so terrified his father would hurt someone other than himself. He had an image he presented to the world: model student, top of the school, honors student, AP classes, sports, free rides to whatever college he wanted. Everything about him was perfect except for the spot of his life he kept from everyone except Sasuke. He carried the effects of it with him to school, but no one ever saw it for what it really was. No one paid attention to him, really. Just his grades and success. Not himself. He swallowed thickly. “Is Sasuke okay?” he asked quietly.

“Yeah,” Deidara replied, leaning back on one hand. “I talked to him last night, un. He called your mom to get him like you told him.”

“I don’t have my phone with me,” Itachi said, wrapping his arms around his knees. “Could I borrow yours to call my mom?”

The blond thought for a moment, then, coming to a decision, nodded and handed his phone over to Itachi who took it gratefully. He got up and went to the window, opening it to climb out onto the fire escape to give him privacy while he smoked another cigarette.

It had been a while since Itachi had to manually dial his mother’s number, but remembered it after thinking hard on it. Deidara’s phone said it was 12:43PM, which meant his mother was probably home and not running any errands. It rang a few times before his mother’s voice sounded on the other end, polite and friendly in her greeting of the unknown number.

“Hey mom,” he said, suddenly nervous. 

“Itachi!” she cried, setting something loudly down in the sink. “Oh, baby! I’ve been so worried about you. You left your phone in your room and your bedroom window was open. The dining room cabinet was broken, I was worried someone broke into the house and kidnapped you.” Itachi gave the wall a guilty smile. His mother didn’t sound angry, just worried for him. Sasuke hadn’t told her what happened.

“No, I’m sorry mom,” he said quietly. “I didn’t realized I didn’t have my phone until this morning.”

“Where are you baby?” she asked. “Do you need me to get you?”

“No, I have my car,” Itachi told her. “I’m at a friend’s house. We were… doing school work and fell asleep.” He paused. “And, I’m not a baby, mom,” he added in undertone.

There was silence on the other end. He had a feeling his mother knew exactly where his school books were in his room. She’d probably straightened his room when she came in to check on him, finding his window open – he assumed it was how Deidara had entered yesterday – and his phone on his desk. He didn’t like keeping secrets from his mother, but he knew it was better for her to not learn his worst secret. Other secrets, like the fact that he wasn’t actually studying at a friend’s house, she let slip. If he had to lie about it, she knew he was either too embarrassed to tell her, or would tell her later. “Okay, sweetheart,” she finally said. Itachi rolled his eyes. “When are you planning on coming home?”

“Before dinner, I think.”

“Who’s your friend?” she asked innocently. There was an air of grinning curiosity in her tone.

“Someone from school,” he replied vaguely, not wanting to give anything away. Deidara wasn’t a friend. Nor did he think Deidara would like being thought of as his friend.

“Why don’t you invite them over for dinner?” she said, the sound of water running came through her end. She was probably washing her lunch dishes. “I think we’ll be eating at the kitchen counter or living room. I only just got all the glass off the floor, but I want to make sure there’s nothing I missed.”

“Sorry about the mess…”

“Oh, it’s not your fault, sweetheart,” she said with a laugh. If only she knew.

“Um…father doesn’t like my friend,” Itachi said softly, in a last attempt. The idea of poking the sleeping monster that was his father again after yesterday morning’s argument was terrifying.

“Your father went away on a business trip yesterday afternoon for a few days,” his mother told him. “He wasn’t in a great mood about it. Something about emergency work conference with the department. I don’t think it will be a problem if your friend comes for dinner, so I can meet them.”

Itachi grimaced a little, glancing at the window where Deidara was. “Oh… I’ll ask him then,” Itachi assured her, wondering if Deidara would want to go back there. He said his goodbyes to his mother and hung up, sighing as he laid back against the wall. A few minutes later, Deidara poked his head in to check he was finished and came back into the room, taking his phone back from Itachi. “My mom wants to know if you want to come over for dinner,” Itachi told him. Deidara looked shocked, but Itachi added hurriedly, “my father’s away for a few days. Mom thinks I fell asleep studying at a friend’s house.”

“Your mom doesn’t know, huh?” Deidara asked, raising an eyebrow at him as he dug into his bag for any remaining fries. Apparently there were none because Deidara stuffed the bag back into the plastic back he’d carried it up in with the empty milkshake cup and tossed it towards the door.

“No,” Itachi said, staring at him hard. “And I intend it to stay that way. She’s happy. I don’t want to mess that up.”

“So you’re taking the fall for dickhead of police, un?” Deidara asked, giving him an expression to make sure he knew just how stupid he thought that is. “And not telling anyone?”

Itachi mumbled that Sasuke obviously knew. “And if you tell anyone, I’ll personally skin you alive,” he added, glaring at him.

Raising his hands in his defense, Deidara shook his head. “Who’d I tell, honestly,” he snorted and sat back down on the floor. “So your mom’s nice?”

“Yeah… she’s amazing actually,” Itachi said, smiling a little as he thought of his mother.

The blond thought for a moment, spinning his phone around between his fingers. “I’ll come to dinner,” he finally said nodding. “Didn’t your mom notice the bullet hole in the floor, un?”

Itachi startled, looking from Deidara to his phone. He didn’t remember a gun firing. Wait, he did sort of remember Deidara had been holding his father’s gun when he crawled to him. Had he fired it? His father left the gun on the table instead of putting it in his gun cabinet. “She didn’t say,” he replied. He watched Deidara run his hand through his hair to pull it off his face to muss it up habitually. The gesture was highly attractive on the blond, and he couldn’t see any roots growing in. Maybe he was hafu. “What was your mother like?” Itachi asked, not meaning to, but the words slipped out like vomit before he could swallow them back.

The blond raised an eyebrow at him, staring at him for a moment then shrugged. “She is the prettiest woman I’ve ever seen, un,” he replied, resting his chin in his palm.

“Is?”

“She used to live in one of those big white houses on the other side of the city, off 31st.”

Itachi stared at him, shocked into silence, wondering if Deidara was telling the truth. Those were some of the most expensive houses in the area. There were a lot of Uchihas living in that area, and the only reason they weren’t was because he had wanted to go to this school, which meant Sasuke was going to this high school. It was closer to Fugaku’s office so it all worked out, but he was having trouble seeing this loud mouth boy in front of him with his too long hair and feminine features living the same rich life he and his family did. How had he become this lazy kid who lived in a rundown apartment with no heating or air conditioning, living off every penny found on the street, selling himself for drug money? Itachi just couldn’t picture Deidara any other way, especially not secure in the rich life of his own family. Deidara didn’t look too thrilled to indulge him in questions on his history, so Itachi didn’t ask any of what was burning to be asked.

“So, where did you get your bike?” he asked instead, trying to change the subject.

“Present,” Deidara replied, then swore spectacularly. “My bike is still near your place, un. I hope no one stole it.” Itachi half rolled his eyes, deciding not to point out that his neighborhood was crime free until Deidara showed up. He waited, raising an eyebrow at the blond, who indulged. “Sometimes the people who pay me to entertain them give presents, un. I think they think it will make me pay more attention to them than someone else. I said I wanted one and someone got it for me for my birthday a few years ago. Daichi helped me fix it up all fancy so I can drive fast and race with it if I want, and I painted it.”

“Who is Daichi?” Itachi asked again, still curious about this person who kept popping up.

“My boss,” Deidara repeated his previous answer. “He owns this building and rents it out to people who need a place to live. I’ve been here about… four years, I think, un.”

“Four years?” Itachi gaped. “You’ve been living on your own since middle school?” Deidara shook his head no, but gave him a look that said he was asking too many questions. Despite himself, Itachi found him curious about Deidara now. He couldn’t help it. He’d never met someone so interesting before. “Why do you do it?”

“What?”

“Sell yourself,” he said, glancing away from him. Wouldn’t it have been better for him to be in foster care? He wouldn’t need to pay his own rent when he was still in high school. Couldn’t he get a real job that wasn’t so dangerous and illegal? He expected Deidara to shut him down, since it was a personal question, but the blond only threw his head back and laughed aloud.

“Spoken like a true pampered brat,” he said. He reached out and jabbed a finger at Itachi’s chest. “You ever look at the price tags when mommy’s buying you clothes? Or food? Shits expensive, rich boy.”

He scowled a little at the nickname, not really enjoying to appear as that pampered brat, but he supposed Deidara had a point. Deidara could be making better life style financial choices though. He didn’t say that aloud. “Do you have something other than that to wear tonight?” he questioned, glancing down at the blonds torn, stained jeans and too big hoodie.

Deidara sneered and pushed himself up to stand, going over to the dresser. “Depends on what you want me to wear, un,” he replied. Itachi responded with ‘just something nice’, so Deidara was free to choose. At least he hadn’t said to wear slacks and a grandpa sweater. Deidara smirked to himself as he pulled out articles of clothes. That was just a huge No. Not like he had a grandpa sweater anyway. He took his clothes into the bathroom and shut the door behind himself, dumping the clothes on the floor so he could turn on his shower and waited for the water to heat up while he stripped. This wasn’t a good idea. Itachi said Uchiha wasn’t there, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t know he had been back to the house again. He thought about what Daichi said, and grimaced. Maybe he should tell Daichi it wasn’t a good idea to try recruiting Itachi. He always knew Uchiha was a piece of work, but he seemed worse than Deidara imagined. He had definitely been about to jump for his gun when he saw Deidara in the house again which meant he would have tried to shoot him probably. Deidara stepped under the hot water and began washing his hair. Having a free meal would be good though, since he’d spent more money than he intended on helping Itachi. He also needed to get his bike, so what better way than to have Itachi drive him over. Plus the brunette owed him for possibly saving his life.

When he came out, dressed in dark jeans that were only worn at the bottoms where they dragged a little on the ground and a long sleeve plaid button down over a black t-shirt. He made a grand gesture at Itachi, who stared at him. “Happy?” he asked, then went to pull on socks and blow dry his wet hair before he froze to death.

Itachi didn’t answer him for a while and through the curtain of his hair, he could see him still staring at him. He recognized the gaze, having received it many times before and smirked. The brunette was checking him out. When he was finished, he tied some of his hair back and sat down to tug on his combat boots. Itachi seemed to shake himself out of his daze and peeled off the covers to put his own shoes on that the blond had taken off when he was unconscious. As Deidara locked the apartment behind them, holding his helmet under one arm, Itachi rubbed his arms to stay warm and they went out to where his Mazda was parked, safe behind the building. Deidara started to go to the driver’s side, but Itachi grabbed him and shook his head. With rolling eyes, Deidara returned his keys and they got into the car.

“We were here studying together,” Itachi said suddenly, when they finally were on their way.

Deidara looked at him in confusion.

“That’s what I told my mom,” he explained. “We were studying and I fell asleep at your place. I don’t know how to explain my black eye.”

“Took you on a ride on my bike, un,” Deidara replied, smirking as he held up his helmet. “You’re a terrible passenger.”

Itachi glanced over at him with an annoyed expression, but shrugged and seemed to accept that excuse. “She might have translated that we weren’t actually studying,” he added, a little reluctantly.

“What else would we be doing?” Deidara asked, then snorted, realizing what he meant. “Wishful thinking on your part, un.”

Itachi raised a hand in defense. “Just bracing you,” he said.

“Whatever.” Deidara rolls his eyes and turned to stare out the window until they arrived in Itachi’s neighborhood. The blond made him pull off so he could go get his bike, still where he’d left it and followed Itachi to park in the road by the driveway. Itachi had only just turned his car off when his mother came out of the house, rushing over to hug her son tightly and scold him for making her worry. She noticed Deidara walking up the driveway, and let go of Itachi to greet him, but spotted his black eye and cupped his cheeks. “Itachi fell off my bike,” Deidara told her, with a boyish shrug to try emphasizing that it wasn’t too big of a deal. Itachi looked a lot like his mother, more than he looked like Uchiha. Her hair was just as dark and styled in a wavy perm that framed her face nicely. The only jewelry she wore was a silver watch, her wedding ring, and a little heart pendant around her neck. It looked like a locket to Deidara. He wondered if it had a picture of Itachi and Sasuke inside.

“Oh,” she said, looking up at Itachi again who gave her a sheepish look. She smiled at him and patted his cheek affectionately before turning to Deidara again. “We didn’t get to meet before. I’m Uchiha Mikoto. Itachi’s mother.”

“Deidara,” he said, taking her outstretched hand to shake. He glanced around, double checking that Uchiha wasn’t home, but his car wasn’t around so he must not be home. Excellent. Free meal. “Please to meet you, un,” he added, smiling brightly.

Mikoto returned it, not seeing the look that crossed Itachi’s face behind her. “Let’s go inside,” she said, gesturing to the door. “Sasuke is setting the table for us. You’ll have to excuse the mess. There was an accident in the dining room and I haven’t finished cleaning it up.”

“That’s alright,” Deidara said, grinning sheepishly since it was his fault after all. “Where I live, we just take our food up to our rooms to eat.”

“You don’t eat together with your family?” she asked, glancing over her shoulder at him.

“No, ma’am, I don’t have family and live alone,” he said, giving a nonchalant shrug. “It’s just easier to fend for yourself, un.”

She smiled and nodded, seeming to accept that it wasn’t something he wanted pity for and stepped inside the house. Deidara tried to follow her, but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder, spinning him around. “You’re up to something,” Itachi said, glaring at him. He tried to give him his best innocent face, but Itachi wasn’t buying it. He tried to shrug it off, but Itachi gave him a shove against the door post. “Don’t you dare take advantage of my mother,” Itachi growled.

“I distinctly remember her inviting me,” Deidara replied, snorting with distaste. He rolled out of Itachi’s grip and went inside before Itachi could snatch him back. Mikoto had set up the table in a sitting room down the hall from the main living area. Following her, Deidara noted brief glances into other rooms, an office lined with bookshelves and filing cabinets with a gun safe in the corner – Uchiha’s office probably, a door leading to a laundry room and a pantry. Every time he looked inside one, Itachi gave him a prod in his back to keep him walking. What did he think he was going to do? Steal everything?

They walked into the sitting room together as Sasuke finished setting down the glasses. He gave Itachi a relieved look and greeted Deidara. He announced he was going into the kitchen to get drinks for everyone in an amusing attempt at subtly that Itachi took and followed him. Apparently Mikoto was a good enough watch dog to protect the house from himself.

“So you and Itachi go to the same school?” Mikoto asked him as she gestured for him to sit down and began piling food onto his plate.

Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, peas, gravy, biscuits. Deidara had to wipe his mouth before replying. It looked like KFC, only better. He hadn’t even tasted it and he knew it was better. “Yeah, but I’m a year behind him, un,” he told her, stripping off his leather jacket and draping it on the back of his chair.

She looked at him a moment, then nodded, beginning to add food to the other plates, smiling up at her boys when they came back into the room carrying pitchers of water with lemon in it, while Sasuke had a pitcher of orange juice. Score. Deidara loved juice. The two sat down, Itachi across from Deidara with in kicking distance, he noted, and Mikoto finally sat down.

There was so much food, Deidara didn’t think they could eat it all, but he would definitely try his best. Having three growing boys at the table made the large dishes disappear slowly, but surely. Everything was as good as it looked. Fried chicken was crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside. The creamy mashed potatoes had garlic and chives in them and so flavorful they didn’t need gravy, but Deidara still used it. Fast food never tasted like this. Hell, half the restaurants he’d been dragged to with clients who wanted dinner company away from their homes didn’t serve food like this. He told Mikoto so (dropping the client part), making her smile happily as if she’d never received a compliment on her food before, which he was certain was a lie. She offered him seconds, then thirds. By the time he was finished his third, he was stuffed and feeling sleepy, but she had ice cream and ice cream is never passed up as a rule. Ice cream filled the cracks in your stomachs that your food couldn’t get to.

This was the best free meal he’d ever gotten, and hurried to offer to help with the dishes to show his thanks for it. He wasn’t one to tell her over and over how much he appreciated it – that just sounded needy and desperate, so he offered. She declined and told him and the others could go. If that was the case, he wanted to go home, but Itachi dragged him down the hall and up the stairs to his room again. The door shutting sharply seemed a little ominous, but Deidara had become adept at escaping out Itachi’s window, so he didn’t let it bother him.

“Don’t get used to this,” Itachi growled. “Don’t take advantage of my mom.”

“And how was I—”

“‘I don’t have family’,” Itachi repeated in a mocking voice. “Trying to make her feel sorry for you.”

Deidara made a gesture to mock crying and Itachi scowled at him. “Your mom gave me a weird look when I said we were in different grades,” he commented.

“I told you,” Itachi muttered. “She thinks we’re dating secretly or something. Doesn’t know how we met.”

Giving a yacking noise, which drew another glare from Itachi, he pulled his leather jacket back on that he’d carried up the stairs. “Guess I’ll go then,” he said, walking to the door.

Itachi stepped in front of him to block his path. “No,” the brunette said. Deidara glared angrily at him, then turned to head towards the window. “Hey, hey, hey!” Itachi warned, hurrying over to wrap his arms around Deidara’s waist and lift him off the ground. “You’re going to lose all the dinner my mom made if you jump,” he said, smirking as Deidara tried to struggle out of his arms. The blond was surprisingly light, all he had to do was avoid the head that came is way to knock his skull again and he was easy to hold. Dropping down on the bed, Itachi crushed him down with his own weight so he couldn’t scramble away. “It’s rude to eat and run.”

“I’m sure your mom’ll understand, un,” Deidara snapped, struggling to get away, but he was at a bad angle, Itachi pressed down against his back. This was not a position he enjoyed being in, especially with that amused voice behind him, making his skin crawl.

“Calm down,” Itachi ordered, gripping the back of his neck to hold him still. He tried to elbow him, but Itachi pressed an elbow down onto his shoulders.

“Fuck no, get off me Itachi! Now!” Deidara’s voice rose angrily, but Itachi just shook his head. Deidara’s fists clenched. Itachi was more than amused at this. He could feel it.

“Tell me how you know about drifting. Tell me who Daichi really is.”

Deidara paused, expecting an entirely different request. He thought for a moment, glancing back at Itachi who finally released his neck so he could turn his head. Daichi did want to meet him, though Deidara really didn’t want to spend more time with the Uchiha than he had to now. He thought about how he’d lied to his mother about what happened. How long he’d been lying. He could keep a secret and Daichi wouldn’t make him stay with the brunette more than he had to. “Fine,” Deidara said gruffly. “I’ll take you to meet Daichi, un.” Itachi finally let go, allowing him to sit up and rub his shoulder where he’d been pinned down.

“Where?” Itachi asked, sounding eager. “Your ‘home’?”

Deidara scoffed. “No,” he snapped. “You’re going to need to change clothes first. Wear something nice,” he added, mimicking Itachi’s command earlier.


	7. Chapter 7

Itachi showered and changed clothes, which Deidara vetoed and made him try again saying he hadn’t meant to dress like he was going to a job interview. Why he needed to wear something specific to meet this Daichi, he couldn’t figure out, but Deidara spent a good twenty minutes digging through his drawers and closets for clothes he deemed presentable. Itachi didn’t like people going through his things and tried several times to stop him, but the blond was determined and made a huge mess of the clothes his mother had neatly packed away. The blond finally selected jeans and a long sleeve shirt, stating that Itachi had the most boring wardrobe he’d ever seen.

They went downstairs together, Itachi stuffing his wallet and keys into his pocket and entered the kitchen where his mother was preparing lunches for the next day. “Mom,” he said to catch her attention. “Would it be alright if I went out with Deidara?”

“Sure, sweety, how late?” Mikoto asked, smiling at him as she used a small cutter to make shapes in carrots. He hoped that wasn’t for his lunch.

“Uh...” he glanced at Deidara, who mouthed the word ‘late’. “I was planning on going over Deidara’s…” He smirked at the blond as he let that trail off in a would-be-embarrassed manner. Deidara glared at him as Mikoto asked if that meant he was spending the night, which Itachi said maybe.

“Take your school things with you then,” she reminded him with a smile.

Five minutes later, one smirking, one glaring, they walked to Itachi’s car again, Deidara’s arms folded so tightly Itachi wondered if he’d ever unravel them. “Where too?” Itachi asked smoothly as he sat down, turning the car on and letting the engine warm up.

“My place,” Deidara said, pulling his helmet on and zipping up his leather jacket.

“Why?” Itachi asked, leaning his head out the window to watch him walk to his bike.

“I’m not taking my bike there, un!” Deidara called as he got onto his motorcycle, kicking it into gear and making a U-turn out his cul-de-sac and driving away. Itachi frowned and followed, glad he knew where Deidara’s place was because the blond didn’t wait for him to catch up. Deidara was waiting for him when he finally pulled up, his bike and helmet nowhere in sight. He looked a little different and it wasn’t until he got into the car did he realized that the blond was wearing a smudge of eyeliner that made his eyes seem a little bigger and bluer. Itachi started to comment on it, but decided against it.

“Where to?”

Deidara began giving him directions, but was otherwise completely silent. He seemed agitated and wondered if it was because of his comments to his mother, implying that the two were dating and possibly having sex. Given Deidara’s profession, he didn’t really understand why he was pissed off about it. Maybe he just really didn’t like him. The buildings they passed became less residential and more commercial. Strip clubs, bars, dancing clubs. Itachi stopped counting when he almost hit a drunk person stumbling out into the road without looking, but still Deidara didn’t tell him to pull over. He had assumed that they were meeting at a club but that was apparently a wrong assumption as there were suddenly fewer and fewer cars until the black Mazda was the only car on the street, with two very silent teenagers inside. Finally Deidara spoke, startling Itachi out of the day dream he had been drifting into.

“Turn down this street to the mall, un,” was the command. Simple, calm, flat. Just as they’d been since they’d gotten into the car. The difference was he pointed this time.

“That mall has been closed for years,” Itachi commented with a frown, but turned into the parking lot anyway.

“Who says we’re going shopping?” Deidara questioned, pointing again towards the parking garage on the other side of the lot they were on. Itachi drove obediently, feeling stupid for doing so, but to his surprise, there was a man standing at the gate, smoking a cigarette with a set of headphones over his ears. He glanced at the car, looking in to see who it was. When he saw Deidara, he nodded and opened the gate for them. “Drive on,” Deidara said, motioning dramatically with his hand, a familiar smirk finally back on his face again.

Itachi drove up into the empty parking garage. The first floor was empty of cars and people, his engine echoing slightly against the concrete walls. The second was just as empty. Itachi was beginning the think the blond was trying to pull something on him. Idiot him for stepping into a trap if it was, but then he got to the third floor and noticed cars. Nice cars of all different models. Some foreign as well. The next floor had people on it, car stereos pumping out music while people talked and danced. The fifth floor was even more crowded, covered in cars decked out and painted to be shown off. People danced, people made out, people leaned over car engine, people flirted and people drank. Itachi didn’t know how many people there were here, but it felt like a lot. A party, but what was Deidara doing with all these people who looked so upper class? Looking closer, Itachi recognized a few people from the skatepark Deidara had played in when they had their first assignment together. These weren’t just rich people, they were people of all classes, all dressed their best and showing off in a genuinely good time. The only thing then that seemed out of place were the cars. Where did they come from? They couldn’t belong to half the people here. People like Deidara. Deidara seemed to barely be able to afford half a day’s meal, let alone a car.

Finding a parking spot, Itachi was upset when Deidara jumped out of the car and left him to be stranded in this group of strangers he didn’t know, nor did he want to know. Itachi was not a social person, and his head still hurt a little from Saturday morning. A part of him whined. It was a school night. Another part of him, one that surprised him, was intrigued. He tried to keep the blond’s swinging pony tail in sight, but didn’t follow him when he disappeared, preferring to stand guard by his car and protect it from possible damage.

“Deidara, you’re late,” a man called from a group he was heading to.

“Better late than never,” he replied coolly, taking the bottle from another to open and enjoy.

“Who’d you bring with you?” a girl leaned against the open hood of a Honda asked, glancing over at the new comer. “He’s cute!”

“It’s him,” Deidara said, not to her, but to Daichi leaning against another car. “He wants to meet you, un.”

“Oh?” Daichi asked, sticking something sweet and sugary in his mouth, as if he hadn’t instructed Deidara to bring him. Dark eyes looked the Uchiha over, then moved to examine his car. RX-7, nice condition, new looking tires, leather interior. He hadn’t heard the engine, but was willing to bet on there being several thousand under the hood. Daichi knew Uchiha Fugaku, and assumed his son had inherited his family’s rich ways. “Nice ride.”

“That’s the car he was driving, un,” Deidara told him, shifting from one foot to another. He was waiting for Daichi to tell him he could go enjoy himself. That he didn’t need him for anything else. He was given a nod and off the blond was, going into the crowds of dancers with a few others, looking for free drinks and fun.

Itachi looked up when someone approached him and his car. He looked familiar, but Itachi couldn’t place where he’d seen him. Dark eyes met Itachi’s red-stained ones, immune to the glare Itachi was giving him, warning him silently to stay away from his car. Where had he seen him before?

“Nice ride,” the man commented, chewing on something lazily as he examined his car from a few feet away. Itachi thanked him curtly, not wanting to engage anything with the stranger. He was here for one thing, not to make friends with people who were probably looking more for his wallet than anything else. “Deidara tells me you’re a natural, self-taught drifter.”

“Look, no offense, but Deidara brought me here to give me answers, and he’s disappeared,” Itachi told him, shrugging slightly, then folded his arms. “I don’t want to stay, I just want the answers, then I’ll be going.”

“You’re going to leave Deidara here then?” the man was still examining the car, yet Itachi felt his attention was focused completely on himself.

“He’s a big boy,” Itachi said, sneering slightly. “I’m just here to meet Daichi.”

“I am Daichi,” the man told him, tipping his blue spiked hair in a calm greeting.

Itachi started, not expecting the man to just walk up to him. Now he remembered where he had seen him before. This was the man who he’d seen at Deidara’s apartment, speaking to the pregnant woman who had led him up to Deidara’s room. Daichi was tall, slightly taller than Itachi himself. His blue tipped hair was spiked up with hair products, tattoos visible under the black shirt he was wearing over a pair of plain jeans. Itachi was surprised. He wasn’t sure what he had been expecting of this Daichi, but it hadn’t been this person. Despite his multitude of piercings and hair color, he gave the air just being an average nobody. Daichi moved closer to the car now that Itachi knew who he was and could allow him to get closer without fear of damage to the car.

Itachi fought to find his voice, bring up questions he’d planned out from what Dediara had told him. “Deidara said you are his boss, but wouldn’t tell me what you did,” he said, watching him.

“I am a mechanic,” Daichi replied, tracing his fingers feather soft over the roof of his car, looking at it as if he were getting to know the machine personally. “I own my own garage, fixed up half the cars in this place,” he added, placing his hand on the hood, but not yet asking permission to open it yet.

“Deidara works on cars too?” Itachi asked, staring in disbelief.

“Sometimes,” was the reply.

“What is this place?” Itachi asked, gesturing to the party going on around them.

“Just people with the same interests getting together to enjoy themselves and have fun,” Daichi replied. "Business mixed in pleasure and passion to bring together someone the greatest racers and hottest people together.” He grinned at Itachi, who stared around at the crowd again. Street racers. “Basically,” he began explaining as Itachi began looking at the cars again in earnest, “among this group of partiers are several groups. Like gangs. Each has a leader who makes the big decisions for them, but they’re also sometimes the main racers. We race for money, for slips, we race for girls or boys, sometimes we even race just for the fun of it.” Daichi motioned for Itachi to open the hood.

Itachi listened to him talk, liking the slow, casual tone the man used to speak with. He seemed almost bored with talking, but it was clear you had his full attention while you spoke to him. That he wanted to hear you and wanted you to hear him. He complied without thinking and opened the hood of his car. He was quite pleased with the inside of his car as he was with the outside. Daichi leaned in to examine it, giving little nods and soft ‘hms’ before stepping back and letting him close the hood again.

“Sometimes the heads of these groups are only in it for the money. Their people race for them, their racers get to keep part of the earnings,” Daichi told him, slipping another piece of candy into his mouth.

“Are you one of those gang leaders?” Itachi inquired, looking at the man to study him as he was being studied.

Daichi laughed shortly, then nodded. “I suppose I am. A friend of mine and I started these street racings when we lived down south. It started out with us racing each other on streets. Then friends started coming to watch, then more came to watch, to bet, to party. People started asking to race too…That was about thirteen years ago,” he said, nodding as if to confirm with himself. “Had to move up here because your father reported me the racings to the local authorities, but we settled here and it built up to this.”

Right under his father’s nose. A sudden thought came to him and he stared at Daichi. “Did you drive a Mustang then?” he asked.

Daichi raised an eyebrow. “Yes, I did.”

“I saw you,” Itachi exclaimed, eyes wide. “My family was on vacation and we saw you racing. My father was angry about it, but…” he blinked, feeling embarrassed now, “it inspired me to learn about cars and drifting.”

Daichi gave an impressed ‘hmph’. “Small world.”

“Was Deidara one of the people who came to watch?” Itachi asked, after a moment of pause as he thought on the coincidence. The drivers he had seen as a child had been so incredibly fluid and in control of his cars. He’d never seen anything like it. No wonder his father hated Deidara. Street racing on top of everything else, underground dealing with cars, drugs, underage drinking. He was sure if he mentioned any other names here, it’d spark the same hatred in his father. “He said you gave him his home.”

“Ahh…Deidara’s special,” Daichi told him, leaning on the car next to Itachi’s. “Deidara’s been with me about ten years. About five years ago, my wife and I bought the apartment he lives in and she petitioned to be a foster parent for children living on the streets. We also rent the rooms too, as a halfway house sometimes, but most of the people who live there work for me. Deidara calls my garage his home. There are spaces to live and sleep there too, but to live there you have to work regularly. Deidara likes his freedom, so he comes over, works on cars, stays a few days then leaves. Why are you so interested in him?” Daichi inquired with a friendly grin.

Itachi frowned. He made it sound like he seemed interested in him as a person, like a crush. That was stupid. “He’s an interesting person,” Itachi replied, spotting the blond laughing with a group of people dancing.

“That he is,” Daichi agreed. “Deidara’s mad at you cause of your actions and disrespect towards him.” When Itachi looked confused, Daichi raised an eyebrow. “Just because Deidara has a certain reputation, doesn’t mean he can’t say no and expect it to be honored.”

Itachi’s jaw set slightly, looking across the crowd at the blond. “I don’t understand,” he said, bitterly. “I’ve never done that,” he gestured towards Deidara where people had their hands all over him.

“Deidara resents them too,” Daichi replied, glancing across the floor where a race was being started between two young men, their cars given the go to peel away towards the sharp curves of the landings. Itachi wanted to watch them, but the cars disappeared around the sharp bend. People cheered and some raced to the elevators to see the end of the race. “He resents anyone who takes from him, even me.”

“Why does he resent you?” Itachi asked, confusion ringing in his voice. “I thought he liked you…”

Daichi smiled, pulling a box of pocky out of his pocket. “Would you like a drink?” he asked, motioning him over to where iced chests sat together against the wall.

“It’s a school night,” Itachi stated.

Daichi grinned and handed him a bottle of soda instead. He took it and tossed the cap into the trash can provided. “I provided for Deidara since I met him, but I told him he had to earn his keep or leave, just like everyone else. Deidara likes his freedom. He didn’t want to work for me, but he didn’t want to work for anyone else either. I challenged him to a race when he was thirteen. If he lost, he could do what he wanted, if I won, he earns his keep.”

Itachi almost laughed. “He’s so arrogant.”

“Very,” Daichi agreed with a nod and a fond smile. “In his defense, he is a very good racer himself.” The mechanic opened a bottle of water and took a long drink. “What did you want with me? Unless it was to get information on our dear little blond friend.”

“I didn’t want anything at first,” Itachi admitted. “Deidara kept mentioning you and I was curious. Now…I’m interested in your garage and how you fix cars. Deidara was curious because I drifted, but I feel like it was really you who was interested in me.”

“Intuitive,” Daichi commented, sucking on one of the pocky sticks with another grin. “I sent Deidara to look for a new racing place. We never stay in one place for long periods of time, you see. He saw you drifting and told me.”

Itachi thought for a moment, wondering what this man wanted with him. He thought about the way this man looked at his car, the way Deidara said he had fixed up his bike. One thing he felt he strongly lacked was a good mechanic for his car. He also wanted to learn himself. You couldn’t exactly go to a normal mechanic and ask for modifications that helped speed him up. Even harder to do if you were the son of the head of police. “Will you work on my car?” he asked, hopefully.

“I don’t work without anything in return,” Daichi told him. Before Itachi could protest and say that he would pay him, Daichi raised his hand to let him continue. “Do me a favor tonight and we’ll talk.”

He thought about how Daichi had said many of the leaders here raced for money, but he had a feeling Daichi didn’t care much for money. A favor… To have this man work on his car was something Itachi wanted very much. If he had worked on many of the cars here, he could work wonders on his car. “What is the favor?” he asked, sitting straighter.

Daichi emptied his bottle and tossed it into the trashcan. “Our dear little blond friend has a tendency during these night races when he isn’t in them to get either very high, or very drunk, sometimes both,” he said, pushing off the concrete slab he’d been sitting on. Itachi followed suit. “I don’t like seeing people taking advantage of him when he’s like that.”

“You want me to take him home?” Itachi said, wanting to make sure he was fully understanding what it was Daichi wanted him to do.

“Take him home, get in his good favors,” Daichi said, glancing back at him, seeing the scoff that came on Itachi’s face at the thought of the impossible task of getting Deidara to like him. “I know Dediara better than anyone in this building, probably the whole city. Don’t let anyone take advantage of him. Take him home, let him sleep. He’ll thank you for it in the morning…in his own way. It is a school night after all. It was nice to meet you Uchiha Itachi,” he added as he walked away, leaving Itachi alone and not really liking the task he had been given. But he wanted Daichi to work on his car, so he got up and searched for Deidara.

When he found the blond, he was definitely drunk, talking and laughing in a loud voice. One person had their arms around his torso, hands groping suggestively which Deidara ignored, but allowed to happen. He watched for a moment, disgusted at the public display in front of him. It was gross to watch unless you were a complete pervert. It made him think less of Deidara, seeing him like this, but the blond didn’t seem to mind, maybe it was the alcohol.

“Deidara,” he said, drawing attention to himself when he decided he had had enough.

The blond spotted Itachi and grinned drunkenly. “Hey, Itachi!” he called, though he was only a few feet away. “Did you meet Daichi? Having fun, un?”

“I did,” Itachi said.

Deidara laughed as though he said something funny. “Come dance with us,” he said, beckoning to him. The person who was holding Deidara gripped him tighter, giving Itachi a look that warned him of his claim to the blond.

Itachi didn’t want to join an orgy with clothes on, for that’s what their dancing looked like to him. Everyone there looked rather drunk, those that weren’t were patiently waiting for the ones that were willing to go home with them for their own private entertainment. “I want you to come with me, Deidara,” Itachi tried, smiling at him. It was a little forced, but it wasn’t unfriendly.

Deidara stilled as though he were thinking hard on something that needed his full attention. The person holding him whispered something in his ear, but Deidara brushed him off. “Where are we going, un?” he asked, stepping out of the embrace to move closer to Itachi. He must be really drunk. He could be wanting to take him some place and seriously fuck him up and he still approached him. Itachi wondered why he was so trusting and realized suddenly that it wasn’t trust, but self-destruction, foolishness and desperation. It was sad.

“Your place, my place, anywhere you’d prefer,” Itachi told him smoothly. He reached out to help steady Deidara as he stumbled, but he suspected it was intentionally as Deidara clutched him, his body pressing up against him. Arm around the blond, he led him towards his waiting car, ignoring the disappointed cries behind him that made Deidara turn his head back to look at the other hopefuls, but with a way out, Itachi wanted out now. He wasn’t leaving without Deidara. Tightening his hold on him, he pulled the blond closer and whispered breathily in his ear, “it’ll be worth it.”

Deidara shivered a little and a sly grin spread across his face. “Alright, un,” he replied, getting in the car with him. “We can go to my place, un. Don’t wanna scare your mom.” He leaned over the console as Itachi drove, draping himself against him with his hands roaming artfully over his torso. Itachi just nodded and drove back to the apartment, helping him up the stairs and into his room.

The sun was shining dimly through the window when Deidara opened his eyes the next morning. He wondered what time it was and what had woken him up. He became aware of a constant beeping and rolled over to pick up his phone that was ringing obnoxiously. He picked it up and glared at the screen reading ‘6:30AM SCHOOL ALARM’. Gross. He felt awful and felt he might skip today. He tried to recall his thoughts from the night before. He didn’t remember getting back home or falling asleep, perhaps if he laid still and thought about it, he’d remember, or just fall back asleep. As he laid there, he realized he wasn’t wearing his shirt and his pants were too loose to be belted and zippered closed. He groaned and buried his face in his pillow. What had he done last night?

The door to his bathroom opened with a soft creak, signaling his worst thoughts. He had brought someone here to spend the night with last night. The other house occupants would be just as dead as he was so it must be someone new. He must have been seriously wasted to bring someone here…he never brought people to this place, or Daichi’s garage. He didn’t think he would ever be drunk enough to take someone to the garage. Daichi would murder him. He had to play cool now, not confused and twinged with fear of not knowing, the uncertainty.

“What time is it, un?” he murmured sleepily, sliding onto his back to sit up, pulling the blankets innocently up to his chest. 

“6:35.” He froze at the voice that answered, whipping around to stare at his bathroom door. Itachi stood in his bathroom doorway, dressed in his school uniform, looking at his watch to answer him. Itachi’s face was full of amusement at the look of horror on the blond’s face. “Oh, come on, it wasn’t that bad,” he teased.

“I… I mean… No way. We didn’t…” Deidara stammered, backing away from the teenager as he approached the bed.

“Now Deidara, is that any way to talk to someone like me? After last night?” he asked, kneeling in front of him. Deidara backed up until he hit the wall, but Itachi kept leaning forward until he was only inches away. “Here,” he said, dropping a bag in his lap. “Eat up, then get dressed.”

Deidara stared down at the bag, seeing a hot breakfast sandwich wrapped in tin foil, a can of hot coffee, a large bottle of water, and a tiny packet of headache medicine. He stared at the bag, then up at Itachi, utterly confused. “What?”

“For school,” Itachi said. “Don’t make me late because of you.” The brunette watched the blond take some of the medicine, downing it with the water. He had bought the smallest bottle he could, worried that the blond would lead him to overdosing on the painkillers. He couldn’t do much harm with that tiny packet. He ate, but was watching Itachi with suspicious, accusing eyes. “Nothing happened,” Itachi finally said, deciding to put a stop to the blond’s worry. His eyes became critical, glaring at him. With a sigh, he explained, “I brought you home, I put you to bed. You tried to get me to fuck you, hence your lack of clothes, but I told you no and to go to sleep.”

“Bullshit,” Deidara snapped, smashing the empty coffee can in anger.

“It’s true,” Itachi said with a shake of his head.

“Why would you do that, un?” Deidara demanded, sitting up straighter to lean forward like he wished to hit Itachi, but wasn’t angry enough yet. “You’ve been drooling over me with your touchy hands since that kiss. Don’t think I haven’t seen you staring at me, un! And I get so drunk I’m willing and you refuse? Bullshit!”

“It’s not bullshit,” Itachi told him. “I’m not like those assholes who’d drag off someone who could barely walk for a quick fuck. I respect you more than that.” Deidara’s glare faltered slightly, starting at him. It wasn’t entirely true, he didn’t respect him, but it was true that he wasn’t interested in drunken sex. “Sorry if I dragged you away from a couple more bucks last night,” Itachi said, standing upright. “I just didn’t think you’d appreciate being left to the wolves. Hurry up and finish. We’ll leave in thirty minutes.”

There was silence from the blond, who ate his sandwich and considered what he had said. Itachi waited patiently for him to come to a decision on how he should process what he’d been told and if he should believe it. It was true. Getting Deidara to bed last night had been a task because the blond had been doing his best to seduce him. It had been very difficult to resist because Deidara was absurdly good at it. Once the blond was finally asleep, he’d taken a cold shower in Deidara’s bathroom before coming back out to sleep himself. Finally, Deidara finished his breakfast and went into the bathroom to shower and dress in his uniform, confused into obedience.

They were silent as they left the apartment – forty minutes later – until Itachi finally spoke. “I met Daichi last night,” he said. He decided he was not going to tell Deidara that Daichi had asked him to bring him home. Watching the blond last night, he felt bad for him. Pitied his self-destruction. His choice had been work for Daichi or support himself. Why had he chosen to support himself when he was forced to place himself into such dangerous positions to support himself? After seeing Deidara’s reaction to what might have happened and with who, Itachi realized that Daichi had been right about Deidara. He had expected and accepted to being taken advantage of, but being shown some form of…mercy surprised him. Mercy, he supposed was the right word. It confused the blond.

Deidara finally looked over at him, face unreadable for a moment before he looked down at his lap. Shame? Was that the expression on his face? “Was he mad?” the blond asked, fidgeting with his uniform buttons.

“No, he seemed pleased to talk to me,” Itachi mused. “He was interesting.”

“No, I meant…never mind, un,” Deidara mumbled, getting out of the car as soon as Itachi parked the car.

Itachi watched him walk towards the school, slinging his backpack over his shoulder. He wondered at the blond for a moment, then pulled his phone out and text his brother to make sure he had arrived at school as well. Fugaku had given him a ride on his way to work, he’d replied. Itachi swallowed and asked if he was mad Itachi wasn’t there, but Sasuke assured him that he seemed fine with it, their mother hadn’t said which of his friends he was staying with. Perhaps that was the benefit of his mother assuming he was dating Deidara. She wouldn’t have cared one way or another, but their father probably would and she wouldn’t tell him.

After school, Deidara approached him in the locker room, not looking at him as he fidgeted almost shyly. “Hey,” he said.

“Hey,” Itachi replied, buttoning his coat up as he closed his locker.

“You… you want to see Daichi’s garage right?” he asked, not looking at him. “I’ll show you where it is, un.”

Itachi stared at him, surprised, but pleased as the blond turned to leave the locker room. He followed, his heart racing excitedly. As he walked, he pulled his phone out and text his family group chat, to let his parents know he was taking his car for an oil change and asked Sasuke if he needed a ride home. Sasuke replied he was playing soccer with friends and didn’t need a ride. His mother replied first, requesting that he be home for dinner. His father didn’t reply, accepting his mother’s reply as adequate. A few hours seemed enough time. Deidara was silent again as he got in the car except to direct Itachi into the city.

The garage was larger than Itachi expected, appearing on the outside to be about two stories high. The outside wasn’t fancy, but the bricks were clean and dark, two of the three garage doors were open, the third painted a dark color with a matching customer door next to it. Deidara instructed him to park outside, which he did, and together they entered. The inside was a car lover’s fantasy. It was clean and open, smelling strongly of car oil, and divided into three parts. One was where the cars were fixed, the lifts either brand new or extremely well kept, the walls were lined with hooks for parts, shelves and tool chests. The other was up a flight of stairs and was a social area where people could take their breaks. The third, Itachi could see only a glimpse from where he stood, was an area filled with bunks for people to sleep. There was a fourth space, but Itachi didn’t learn about that till later. That area was where Daichi kept all the cars that had been won from street racing, or ones Daichi had bought with his own money.

The first part was where Deidara took him, several men were standing around talking or leaning over to work on engines of the three cars set up in the spacious area. He recognized two of them as the men who had been with Deidara when he had brought him his breakfast after his concussion. Daichi was standing under a raised lift, looking up at the underbelly of a red Supra, making comments on it. Someone nodded towards them and the mechanic turned and smiled as though he’d been waiting for them to come. Itachi wondered if Daichi knew that Deidara would eventually bring him over. He couldn’t tell, but everyone seemed to stop their work to glance up at the new comer. He wondered, also, what Daichi wanted with him.

Whatever it was, he was sure he would find out soon.


	8. Chapter 8

Daichi had spent the first hour of Itachi’s first visit to his garage showing the Uchiha around. It was there he got to see the rest his eyes didn’t intake on his first glance around. If it hadn’t been for the variety of structures and decorations, their voices would have echoed a lot, but they didn’t. Up the stairs was the open second floor was a collection of comfortable chairs and folded chairs with tables. This was a place to relax and hang out. A few people were playing cards at one of the tables. There was a few bunks there with curtains for privacy for naps. Behind the door on the first floor was the bunk area. The first row of bunks were built length wise, the higher ones were built like capsules from a hotel. Through another door was a large bathroom with showers and rows of sinks. On the roof there was another space for socializing as well as a small area for a garden that was empty now as winter approached. The place seemed to be a central point, a safe haven for Daichi’s people.

When they returned to the cars, Daichi looked Deidara, who had dropped onto the sofa after they arrived and was asleep, up and down as though making sure he was whole and fit and not faking anything. Satisfied, he turned to Itachi once more. “You’re in my favor, Itachi,” he told him. “I will work on your car if you’d like.”

“Actually,” he said, taking a breath. “I’d also like to learn how to fix cars, too. I’ve only been able to read books and fiddle with my car, but I’d love to learn.”

“Would you, hm,” Daichi mused, giving him a once over again. “My name isn’t on any police reports. I’ve never been caught in anything illegal. However, many of my employees have been. I would not appreciate your father finding them here.”

Itachi clenched his jaw, looking around at this beautiful place. “My father and I are not close,” he said quietly. “I… I find this all intriguing, and my father not so much. I would never bring my father here. I regularly check my car to make sure he hasn’t put a tracking device on it.”

“Do you?” Daichi asked, tilting his head back. It was a casual gesture, but he saw his gaze sharpen. 

“I love driving,” Itachi said. “I love cars. I want to learn. Even if you don’t want me to race, I’ll work here. I want to.”

“Hm,” Daichi mused, going over to the sofa and sat down next to Deidara. “I’m interested in you as a racer.”

“I don’t have anything to race for,” he admitted.

“That’s not how it works, un,” Deidara mumbled sleepily, sitting up again. Daichi smiled and patted Deidara’s head.

“Deidara claims you can keep secrets,” Daichi said, leaning back with his arms over the back of the sofa. “Of every person I’ve worked with, Deidara is the best judge of character I’ve ever met. If he says you can keep a secret, I believe him.”

“Thank you,” Itachi said quietly, though he wasn’t sure which man he was thanking.

“A few of us are going to test the mountain pass tonight,” Daichi told him. “Would you like to come with us? I’d like to see you drive.”

Itachi swallowed, wanting so badly to say yes. “I can’t,” he said quietly. “My parents are expecting me before dinner. I told them I was getting an oil change.”

Daichi looked at him again and Itachi felt a little uncomfortable because he couldn’t tell what the man was thinking. He didn’t give anything away in his calm, steady gaze, but he finally stood and gave him a smile. “Then let’s give you an oil change,” he said.

After pulling his car into the garage where Daichi instructed, the two of them looked over Itachi’s car, the mechanic making comments to the new parts Itachi had had installed since it’s purchase. Daichi seemed to know what was under his hood before he looked at it, making Itachi wonder if he could tell just by hearing the engine. As they worked, Daichi examining each section of his car – and changing the oil, Itachi wondered how he could convince his parents to allow him to come to the garage regularly. He wanted badly to learn from Daichi. When it came time to leave, Itachi tried to pay Daichi, but the man refused telling him he could come back tomorrow if he was able and he could learn as payment. He was in a happy mood when he arrived home, despite his father’s car back in the driveway. His mother was making dinner in the kitchen and he went in to wash his hands and offer to help her.

Sitting down at dinner, his father talked about his business trip, not questioning Itachi’s black eye. Sasuke talked about his soccer game with his friends and Itachi remained silent, eating his meal as he tried to figure out how he was going to convince his parents to let him work in the garage without making Fugaku suspicious. Sitting at his place at the table, Itachi suddenly realized why his mother had missed the bullet Deidara had fired. He could see it, just barely visible because of the angle of the light. On the wall near the grate, the wall had been patched and painted. His father must have done it after they left. The paint matched, but still looked slightly different when the light hit it from his angle. He swallowed, glancing at his father who praised Sasuke for his soccer game. His father had decided to ignore him upon his return. Afterwards, his mother asked if he would bring his homework down to work while she cleaned up, refusing his offer to help.

“What’s wrong, Itachi?” she asked when he had spread his homework out in front of him.

“What?” he asked, looking up.

She smiled at him, leaning over the counter to set a plate of dango, his favorite snack, in front of him. “You seemed down at dinner,” she replied. “Is something wrong with your car?”

“No, it was fine,” Itachi replied, pulling the plate closer. “They said it was running perfectly.”

“Then what is it?” she asked, turning on the sink to begin washing the dishes.

Itachi thought for a moment, then decided on as much truth as he was able. He didn’t like lying to his mother. “Deidara has this friend who’s a mechanic,” he began, “that’s whose shop I went to today. He knows so much about cars, he could even tell what parts I had changed in the engine just from the sound of it. He let me hang out in the shop and offered to teach me how to fix cars if I wanted to, in exchange for helping me with my car.”

“Ohh,” she said, smiling broadly at him. “That sounds wonderful, Itachi.”

“Yeah, but,” he began, twirling his pencil in his hand, “father doesn’t like Deidara. At all.”

“Why not?” she asked curiously.

“He’s a bit of a trouble maker,” Itachi admitted. “I think he has a record or something and I don’t think father would like it if I was near someone like that. But… I really like Deidara’s friend and want to learn. It will only be a hobby, I’m still going to university,” he added, in case, “but I had fun working on cars today.”

She looked at him as her hands worked on autopilot, scrubbing the dishes clean than setting them on the rack to dry. Still, she smiled at him. “It makes me happy to know you’re making friends,” she told him. “I know you work hard at school, but sometimes I worry that you’re alone.”

“I like being alone,” he countered.

“I know, but Deidara seems like a nice boy.”

“We’re not really friends, mom,” he admitted, tapping his pen against his notebook.

“No?” she asked, tilting her head to the side. “You spent a whole night and day with him and he’s not your friend?”

“No, we just had an assignment together,” he told her. “He just recommended this shop.”

She hummed in thought, but didn’t comment – he had a feeling she didn’t believe him that they weren’t friends. After finishing her washings, she set to drying the dishes to put away. “I think,” she said finally, “that learning to take care of your car from someone who knows them is a good idea, so long as it does not interfere with your school, or your team meets. I’ll speak to your father about it.” He smiled at her, a wave of relief washing over him. He picked up the dango finally and ate, finishing his homework in front of her while she worked.

He didn’t know how, but his mother told him the next day that his father had approved, though he had a feeling based on the glance his father gave to her that it had been less of Fugaku’s agreement and more that his mother insisted. After school, he checked his car again, in as many places as he could think, for a tracking device, worried at the length his father might go. Finding none, he drove Sasuke home and then went straight for the garage. Every day, Daichi brought him over to the car he was working on and began instructing him, telling him the parts, what was wrong with the items and how he would fix it. He worked as Daichi’s wrench monkey, handing him tools when instructed, uncaring of the dirt and grim growing on his hands that he scrubbed off at the end of the day before returning home. On Thursday, when he arrived Daichi smiled and came out to meet him. They were going up to the mountain together where he wanted to see Itachi drive and asked to wait while he got his car. While he waited, his car idling, Deidara walked by and tapped his car with his foot.

“Did you just kick my car?” Itachi demanded angrily, rolling his window down.

“Don’t have gloves,” Deidara told him, hands shoved into his jacket pockets. “Hey, be careful. Daichi seems like a chill guy,” he told him, leaning down, “but he never does anything for free, un. He can be a real asshole.”

Itachi stared, startled by his concern. “What are you saying?” he asked.

Deidara glanced back to where Daichi had disappeared and shrugged. “He’s going to try to pull you into racing for him, un. You could become in his debt if something goes wrong,” he finally said, looking back at Itachi. Something on his face made Deidara scowl. “I’m not worried about you, un! I’m just… I don’t… feel like spending more time with you than I have to, un.”

And he was gone. Itachi shook his head, grinning slightly. Deidara was a strange person. As Daichi pulled out around the corner, Itachi shifted into gear and followed after him, wondering at what Deidara had meant. What would be so bad about working for Daichi? He had only met him a short time and he liked the man. Itachi loved racing, what could be so horrible about trading in a few nights of racing for unending mechanical support? Daichi seemed to be teaching the others to work like he did and Itachi wanted to learn too. Maybe Deidara really did just not want to spend more time with him. He really didn’t understand what it was about himself that Deidara hated so much. He didn’t think he had done anything that the others had done either, less than them. Maybe Deidara only put up with them because they waved money in his face.

At the top of the mountain, Daichi got into the passenger’s side of his car and asked Itachi to race down, eyes closed as he felt the whole ride. They did this a few times, sometimes Daichi drove them down at his car. It was so graceful and so fluid it was like the car was only made to take these corners, floating over the road freely instead of driving on a road with rules. They spent the whole afternoon doing this, talking about the cars and practicing their drifting. When the sun set, Daichi suggested that they get take out for the rest of the garage and Itachi called his mother to tell her he had been invited to dinner with the other workers and if he could stay. She seemed delighted, but reminded him he still had school. A few other workers joined them at the restaurant Daichi chose – he must have called a few of them, then they went home, the passenger side of his car had a few bags of Chinese food.

Deidara was asleep on the sofa when they returned to the garage. Itachi and Daichi ignored him, carrying the bags of food on a table on the second floor, but the others woke him up violently, dragging him off the cushions and hanging him upside down while they fussed over them in mocking voices. Deidara sounded particularly thrilled about that by the curses and yelling at the blond.

“Are they always so mean to him?” Itachi asked quietly, looking down at the commotion.

Daichi considered him a moment, than looked down as well. “The burden of being the youngest with a reputation like his… Well, they all feel they helped him be so…successful, so he should pay them back,” Daichi explained, almost bitterly disapproving as Deidara pulled away from their grabbing hands to follow them smell of food.

“You shouldn’t let them do that kind of stuff to you,” Itachi told the blond as the blond dug through the bags curiously.

“No one asked you,” he snapped, accepting the container of dumplings Daichi held up for him. He took the lid off and broke apart the chopsticks. He said a thanks for the meal, then ate a dumpling. “He’s in, isn’t he?”

Daichi smiled and opened the container of his hunan, Itachi with his chicken. The other came and received their different foods, breaking away to go eat alone or in pairs. “You have an eye for talent,” was all he told him.

Itachi glared at the blond, who sighed and continued to eat. He was starting to become frustrated by his irritation and dislike towards him. “Look, I don’t know why you hate me so much, or what the hell I did to piss you off, but you don’t have to make it so obvious,” he snapped at the blond.

“Why not?” Deidara demanded. “You’re just like everyone else.”

“Says who?” Itachi demanded back, rising in his chair to challenge his accusation. He thought he was just like all those assholes who used him for their own entertainment, those people pawing all over him because he was too drunk to stop them? It was almost insulting to hear, though he had already expected it. “You’re jumping to conclusions! I haven’t done anything to you except kiss you once!”

“Enough,” Daichi said calmly as Deidara started to stand as well. “If you’re going to rip each other’s throats out, I’d rather it not be while we’re eating.” The two obediently fell silent, sitting back down. Deidara ate the rest of his food before getting up to throw his trash away and climbed down the stairs to go into the bunk area.

He was angry and confused. It was making him lash out and lose his self-control, even he could see it, though he had no way of stopping it. Deidara didn’t understand why Itachi had chased after him like all the others, staring at him with clear intent for weeks then to not take what he’d been wanting when he had the opportunity. He grumbled to himself as he peeled off his hoodie and shirt, climbing up the small ladder to his bunk. When Daichi had first build the bunks here, Deidara had fought hard for the third row of capsule style bunks, the highest one. He didn’t want anyone sneaking up on him like they had done before. He tossed his clothes down into the corner, then laid down on the mattress. He was angry at himself for being unable to calm his irritation, attributing it to being woken up by the others.

The bunk structure shook slightly as someone climbed up.

“What do you want, un?” he asked, sticking his head out of the opening to see Itachi climbing up. His shoes had been left by the door with Deidara’s.

Itachi stopped in front of his bunk and sat on the small platform there, letting his leg hang down. “I want to talk to you,” was the reply.

“Maybe I don’t want to talk to you, un,” he heard himself snap back. He laid back down on his mattress and rolled to give him his back.

“Then you can listen,” Itachi replied calmly. Deidara started to protest, but Itachi held his hand up. “I’m just going to talk alright. I only agreed to work with Daichi because I want to learn more about the cars. I respect his skill, I want to learn. It had nothing to do with you. If you want, I’ll ignore you, but I don’t want you glaring at my back the whole time.” There was a pause and Deidara continued to scowl at the wall of his bunk, peppered with puri pics with friends. “At the races the other night, I saw how those assholes had their hands all over you, like they were passing you around.”

“It’s none of your business how I conduct my business, un!” Deidara snapped, sitting up like he would push Itachi off the bunks. He held himself back, but Itachi still gripped the rail above the entrance. “I don’t want your pity, or your attention, un! I live my own life, so stay out of it.”

“I thought you didn’t want to talk,” Itachi mused, grinning at him. “I’m not trying to invade your life, I’m just walking close to it. If you don’t want me to talk to you, or look at you, I won’t. Just stop glaring at me.”

And he was getting down. Deidara glared where he had been, confused by the exchange. He crawled to the edge and peeked down, watching Itachi put his shoes back on and go back into the garage, listening as the Uchiha thanked Daichi for dinner and told him he was going home. It wasn’t really Itachi being there that was making him snappy and moody, just Deidara’s own confusion. He didn’t like not understanding things and it was making him grouchy. He saw Daichi’s feet in the door and ducked as the man entered. He was silent, hoping Daichi wasn’t going to ask him to do any work tonight, he wanted to sleep off his anger.

The following day, Deidara obeyed the order to stay after class, mainly because Deidara had no desire to see Itachi in the locker room preparing for gym. He hated history class. Head resting on folded arms, he waited patiently for the other students to leave, his teacher was folding up her papers and setting them neatly on her desk. When the room was clear, she approached his desk with a casual stroll and a fiddle of her hands. It was a movement he’d seen many people do when they’re about to tell you something they would rather not. She leaned back to sit on the desk next to his.

“Deidara, you haven’t turned in any of the assignments this quarter,” she told him, as if he had no idea. “I pride myself over never letting a student fail my course, but I’m not beyond it.”

“Sensei, you know I don’t care, why bother?” Deidara asked, giving her a smug grin. He could transfer out of her class if he made up some sap story for the councilors. He didn’t need to know much about history in his own opinion. When would he ever need to use it?

“Because I’m a teacher and that is my job,” she replied. She was always a feisty one. She had gained the respect of all the other teachers when she had broken up a fight between two large seniors single handedly. Fearless. That was interesting to have in a teacher, but rather annoying at times like this. “I’ve spoken to your other teachers and they share the same concern. If you don’t start making up your work for at least the next two quarters, you’ll fail the grade and have to repeat it again.”

Deidara shrugged. “So what?”

“So what?” she asked, throwing her hands out. “You’re on probation, Deidara. I was at your court date. If you fail or drop out, you’re in violation of your probation and you’ll go to jail.” She folded her arms smartly and looked down at him, staring at her. She had him and they both knew it. School was like a fence to him, chained around to let him only see through the links at the amazing things the city had to offer for his own enjoyment. Fences could be climbed over. Jail was a cage. A cage without a lock to pick. A cage nailing away his freedom behind concrete and barred doors and windows. He’d been there once for a night. He would rather die than go back.

His teacher didn’t mock him for winning the upper hand. Instead she spoke of ways he could do make up work to erase the zeros, he heard her coming out of a haze of memories. “…only get partial credit of course, because they’re late, but anything is better than a zero. I suggest going to all your teachers and asking for any work you can turn in late to boost your grade, any extra credit.”

“What if they don’t want to, un?” Deidara snapped, irritation rising. Have to do school work instead of going to jail was a horrible exchange. He was seventeen, turning eighteen in a few months. He’d been warned that next time they would try him as an adult instead of a minor.

“Then you can come to me and I’ll speak to them myself,” she said with a nod, standing up right and went over to her desk. She pulled out four full folders and handed it to him as he stood and approached her desk to get the excuse late note from her to give to his last teacher. “This is mine, your algebra, social science and biology. I asked them to put together the folders for you.” She smiled at him, as she scribbled the note and signed it. “You’re a brilliant young man, Deidara. It’d be terrible to see it go to waste.”

“You’re supposed to tell me I’m brilliant,” Deidara grumbled as he stuffed the folders into his bag.

She smiled and handed over the note. “Yes, but I’ve seen how you think and work when you do. It’s quite brilliant. I’ve also seen your artwork, and not just your decorations in the hallways with destroyed vending machines.” Deidara feigned innocence as people began filing into the class to their seats, chatting away.

Puffing his hair out of his face in irritation, he left the room, taking his good old time to get to his next class. What were they studying this quarter anyway? He had no idea. He couldn’t even remember what they’d talked about today. He paused and stared down at his shoes. What had he been doing in class? Oh yes, he’d been sketching a design to paint on one of Daichi’s new cars.

It was too late to get dressed for gym now; his teacher would probably make him sit on the bleachers and do homework. Making a U-turn to his locker, he pushed passed his jacket to the stack of books he hadn’t touched since the first day and pulled all of them out. Not all of them fit into his backpack and he had to carry the rest to the gym, handing the note to his teacher, who indeed told him to sit on the bleachers and do homework. As he turned, he quoted the next line silently, which he had heard many times before: ‘if you don’t have any, I’ll get you some work for you to do’. Work here was looking through old beat up fitness magazines and filling things out about them on a piece of paper. It was boring. The natural response anyone should have was that they did have homework.

Sitting down halfway up, he looked through the folders with a rising despair. This was a lot of work, with a lot of subjects he had not paid attention to at all this year. Part of him had been hoping this make up work was something he’d be able to bullshit through, but it wasn’t. Groaning, he cracked open his book and began looking through the index for keywords.

After class, Itachi sat in the group of athletes in front of their coach, stretching while they listened to him talk the athletes through the stretches. When he’d first began doing this, Itachi had found it distracting and pointless. He knew the stretches and after the first three practices, the first year basketball members would know them too, but still he talked them through it. Now it was simply a background noise to him that help set the pace, the voice helped to stretch himself further. He couldn’t explain how, but it did.

Rain had started pouring outside, the cold air only temporarily penetrating the stagnant heat of the gym. Track season had officially ended and he worked with total focus on the try outs for basketball. Though he loved to run, he enjoyed the focus and precision basketball required. Each drill, he worked carefully, trying very hard to ignore the fact that Deidara was still sitting on the bleachers behind the half court nets set up, pouring over…school work? He pushed the blond out of his mind and focused on his feet, focused on the feeling of the ball, calculating each drill again.

After practice, he showered and redressed, feeling pleased with the tryouts. On his way out, he noticed his coach telling Deidara he had to go home. With tryouts over, there would be no one to supervise him. He couldn’t hear Deidara’s response, but he could see the distracted look on his face as he packed his things up and started for the stairs. Itachi brushed it out of his mind and went to his school locker to get his school books as well as his umbrella. Hearing someone call his name, he groaned and glanced back at a few of the cheerleaders coming over to him.

“Hey Itachi! We saw your try outs, you looked amazing!”

“Can we walk you to your car?”

“Can I share your umbrella? I left mine at home.”

He slammed his locker shut and walked to the front door without answering. Every year, the cheerleaders tried to get him to pay attention to them, but he had absolutely no interest in them and they usually, eventually, left him alone for the other players who appreciated them more. Outside, the shelter over the front door made a line of water that looked like a thin waterfall. It was raining even harder now. Perhaps he should wait until it let up to drive home. The thought of hydroplaning and crashing his car sent a jolt of fear down his spine for his favorite possession. That would mean putting up with this group for a little while longer, but then he noticed he wasn’t the only person waiting for the rain to let up.

“Too wet to ride?” he asked before he could stop himself. He’d promised not to talk to Deidara, but the blond didn’t look angry at him now. The girls stared at him. Yes, he speaks.

Deidara looked up from where he sat against the brick wall, his messenger bag next to him looking much fuller than it normally did. In fact, it looked over stuffed. He even had a few books on the ground next to him. School books. “Yeah, too cold too,” he replied, dropping his head down to look at his book again. “Also, I have these.”

The girls turned their attention to Deidara, greeting him happily and tried to get him to talk to them, but he ignored them, or tried too. Itachi could see him trying hard to concentrate, but growing more and more agitated. He was becoming a pro at recognizing that expression. “Want a ride?”

Itachi had a feeling that the offer had been exactly what the blond had been waiting for, though not counting on it. He nodded and stood to gather his things, ignoring the girls still as Itachi opened his large umbrella and held it over the both of them as they walked to the nearly empty parking lot towards Itachi’s car, leaving the whining girls behind. When they were in the car, Itachi didn’t pull away, still waiting the rain out a bit longer. Deidara didn’t object; he opened his book again and continued reading. They sat in a very loud silence, the heavy rain on his roof top. Itachi thought of starting his own homework, but decided it was too tight of a space. He pulled his phone out to text his brother, asking if he made it home alright. Sasuke assured him he had.

Glancing over at the work the blond had going, he frowned slightly. “That answer is wrong,” he said, pointing at the algebra problem the blond had just finished. “You forgot to factor in the other x. Try again.”

Deidara gave him a nasty look, but did what he said. A few minutes later, he held up his paper for Itachi to see, looking unsure.

Itachi nodded. “That’s correct. What are you doing so much homework for?” he asked, finally voicing his confusion. He expected Deidara to get mad at him, but the blond just stared hard at his work and mumbled an answer, but Itachi couldn’t hear him over the rain. “What? I can’t hear you.”

“I don’t want to go to jail!” the blond said, much louder than necessary. “I’m being blackmailed by my teachers, un! I have to pass this grade or I’m in major shit! Except I don’t fucking know any of this shit and I have to do all this work in each of my fucking classes. I’m just fucked!”

Deidara’s outburst left the car in a ringing silence. Itachi stared at him, completely surprised by it. The blond’s cheeks were red in embarrassment, begging for a teasing comment, but Itachi held it back. Instead he asked him softly, “why would you go to jail for not passing?”

“I’m on probation,” Deidara muttered, slouching down in his seat. “I got into some shit a while ago and the judge wouldn’t try me as an adult like your father wanted. Instead she issued that I had to stay in school and pass. If I fail or get suspended, I’d go right back to be reconsidered, possibly as an adult, un. That’s why your father hates me so much. One of the reasons.”

Itachi let out a low whistle. It was already halfway through the second quarter, it’d be hard make up his grade that fast. His father really hated Deidara…almost as much as Itachi hated his father. He hated his father for what he did to him, disgusted by how he was just a gruff saint in front of his mother. His mother’s happiness was the only thing holding him back from exposing his father for the abusing fake he was. It would crumble if it came to light. Instead, he found ways to get under his father’s skin, usually within the safety zone of his mother’s presence. Another thought suddenly crept into his thoughts.

It would be risky. He’d never used another person to get under his father’s skin before and Fugaku had already demonstrated that he didn’t mind acting violently towards Deidara, but if it was carefully planned, the two of them could make Fugaku squirm with the want to wring their necks. With his mother around, that would be impossible. With permission to work for Daichi he could ensure that he was never home without his mother. It was perfect.

“I could tutor you if you wanted,” Itachi said, looking at him seriously. Only thing left was to convince Deidara to do it. He wondered if he should tell the truth to the blond and see if he’d be willing, but if he took it as only wanting to use him, he’d be angry again. He didn’t know. “I have the highest GPA in the school, you know,” he said in response for the blond’s expression of disbelief. “Every single year. I’ve aced every class and every test. I—”

“Everyone knows that, un. You don’t have to show off about it,” Deidara snapped, sounding unimpressed.

“I’m not,” Itachi said, finally starting the car up and pulling out of the parking lot. It was still pouring, but he felt he needed to do something with his attention. He just drove slowly. “I’m just…trying to be helpful, maybe get on your good side. Apartment or Daichi’s?”

“Daichi’s,” he replied, closing his book and stared out the window. He was considering it, Itachi saw. If he found out he was only using him, he had a feeling there’d be vengeful torture in his future. Either that or Deidara would like the idea and act on it too. Perhaps he could strike a friendship with the blond. He did like him, despite his aggressive attitude. He was interesting and clever. This despairing expression didn’t suit the blond. Itachi preferred him smiling. If Deidara found out and was angry, he supposed he could petition his parents to have the tree Deidara kept using to climb through his window down.

“I’ll think about it,” Deidra finally told him as they pulled up to the garage, covering his books with his bags and getting out to sprint inside before he got too wet.

Not a promise, but promising. An improvement.


	9. Chapter 9

Itachi was beginning to feel sorry for Deidara. Not that he was dumb enough to say so out loud, but he was. The blond had kept up a decent façade for half of a week, not letting anyone at the garage see what he was up to. When the rest of the group that hung around Daichi’s garage discovered that Deidara was hunkering down to study instead of play, to grade his mock tests instead of paint cars, to read text books instead of going clubbing, to wonder about science instead of engines, their teasing went up so much that Deidara was spending less and less time around civilization. He stayed at school until a teacher or librarian told him he had to leave, stayed in a bookstore until it closed. When he returned to Daichi’s, he went straight for his bunk, closing the curtain of its opening and was known to go off like a bomb if someone bothered him there. Itachi didn’t know why the blond didn’t study at the apartment where there was the benefit of a locked door.

For the last two weeks, when he didn’t have practice, Itachi was at Daichi’s garage learning about working on cars. He had thought he knew a great deal about cars already, but Daichi proved he still had miles to go. Itachi, who had never enjoyed the company of others, found himself enjoying working with Daichi and many of the others. When they found out he was on the basketball team, they invited him to play games with them in the skate park. Though he had no interest in many aspects of their lives, he found them all interesting to work with, but none of them interested him like Daichi and Deidara. The mechanic was both open and reserved, talking freely about many subjects, but rarely revealing things about himself. He let Itachi talk about interesting things he’d read about psychology, despite Itachi’s suspicion that he had little interest in his school talk, but he asked the sort of questions that allowed Itachi to keep talking about subjects he was interested in. As for Deidara, he was beginning to pick up on the blond’s habits. Able to predict what sort of reactions he would have, based on his mood, able to see the point of no return when his irritation would explode out of him. He saw him finish studying and go out for the night, sometimes returning before Itachi left, sometimes Itachi didn’t see him come back. Once, Fugaku went away on a business trip for a few days and Itachi was able to stay at the garage overnight. He saw the blond stumble back home each night, looking barely able to stand as he slowly made his way back to his bunk in different clothes than he left in. Each time, Itachi would see Daichi stop what he was doing, gripping whatever was in his hands as if he would throw it until Deidara was out of sight as if physically restraining himself from stopping the blond.

One Friday night, Itachi stayed late working on his own car, Daichi next to him monitoring his work. The door opened, letting the chilly November air into the garage as Deidara came inside. He staggered a little as if drunk, but carefully shut and locked the door behind him. Halfway to the bunks, he tripped over the empty floor, groaning softly. Itachi stood up to go help him, but Daichi gripped his arm to stop him. “Leave him alone,” the man said, not looking at the blond as he dragged himself like he was in pain into the bunk area. The next day, he hadn’t gotten out of bed until late in the afternoon and even then it was only to use the bathroom. Itachi had obeyed Daichi, but wondered why no one else helped the blond.

Itachi couldn’t imagine living like that. Even though he despised what he saw sometimes, he couldn’t help be fascinated. He wanted to know how it felt to live like that. It seemed so painful to him, but if it was then why would the blond let his life progress like this? Why hadn’t anyone stopped him? Helped him? It was like reading one of his mystery novels, only it was watching it unfold before his eyes, unable to look back and reread something that happened so he could understand. He seemed so utterly predictable, yet at the same time, completely unknown. He wished he could ask him questions, but the blond continued to ignore him. Itachi kept his word by not speaking to him, though his eyes watched the blond’s movements when he could. Studying and saving information for later.

It was Deidara who broke the silence between them. He had been getting his lunch from his locker at school and turned to find Deidara standing just behind him. It had taken every ounce of his willpower not to take defensive actions. It had been a few days since that horrid night when Itachi had seen him arrive back at the garage. He looked better than he had that weekend, but when his heart had calmed down a bit, he realized the blond looked stretched and at his wits end.

“What?” Itachi asked, a little more defensively than he intended.

“Help me,” the blond said, looking miserable. “Please.”

“Help you?” he asked, confused. “With what?”

“School.”

After that, Itachi had been spending an hour less on cars and spending it instead with Deidara. He showed him how to make outlines for the chapters in his books to help him study for the current subjects, answering questions the blond had when he didn’t understand, re-teaching him math problems. He hadn’t expected Deidara to be cooperative with his study schedule and practice tests, but the blond was very willing to learn and Itachi found that once he did learn something, the blond remembered it easily, especially math.

“What exactly are you on probation for?” Itachi finally asked one afternoon. They had gone to Itachi’s house after school, sitting at the kitchen counter while his mother made dinner. Deidara seemed particularly thrilled about this. Not only had he been invited to stay for dinner, but he was allowed to taste test everything she was making and she was providing snacks. Mikoto gone upstairs for something and he had waited until she was gone before asking. It had been nagging him for ages.

“Oh well… ‘allegedly’,” Deidara said, making quotation marks with his fingers while Itachi graded his math homework, “a friend and I got really high and came up with this brilliant idea that the poor overworked office workers needed to be rescued, un. So we set off my entire stock of homemade fireworks into the office windows, including—”

“The police headquarters,” Itachi interrupted, eyes wide as he stared at Deidara in disbelief.

“Allegedly,” Deidara reminded him, an innocent look across his face that would fool no one. Mikoto came down, rescuing him from Itachi’s stares.

The brunette hurriedly continued to grade the blond’s home work as the blond reached over to take a piece of cheese from the grated pile Mikoto had offered him. “Eighty,” Itachi told him, handing the paper back. “Better.”

“It’s still only forty, un,” he grumbled looking at the paper. Itachi hadn’t written on the page since it was getting turned in.

“Better than zeros,” Itachi said.

“Yeah, everyone keeps telling me that, un,” the blond grumbled.

Sasuke came down to help set up for dinner, greeting Deidara happily when he spotted him. The front door opened and Fugaku walked in. Itachi froze, starting down at the granite counter top. Deidara stared right at his father, completely immune to the shocked look that slowly melted into the core of the earth type of rage. Itachi risked a glance then quickly stared right back at the counter. He didn’t know whether to laugh or be terrified. The plan to torment his father with Deidara hadn’t crossed his mind in weeks, but seeing his face made him feel as though he received a point in the game.

“What is this?” the head Uchiha asked, trying to keep his voice neutral in front of Mikoto. Itachi saw Deidara glance from his mother to father and smirked. Itachi had told him that his mother didn’t know, but Itachi could see the blond coming up with his own malevolent plans.

His mother came around the kitchen island and kissed him sweetly, taking his coat and hanging it in the closet for him. “Itachi’s helping his friend catch up on his grades,” she told him, getting him a glass of water as he moved into the kitchen. Fugaku responded with a grunt, purposefully not looking at the two of them to help his own self-control as Mikoto made him taste the sauce she’d made for their spaghetti dinner. Yes, he loved it. Everything you make is delicious. Another kiss exchanged and Fugaku went upstairs to take a shower before dinner.

“Why don’t you two finish upstairs in your room, Itachi?” Mikoto suggested as Sasuke sat down next to them. “You’ll distract Sasuke from his homework and I have a few more things to do before dinner starts. You have about… an hour.”

Ignoring Sasuke’s reproach that they wouldn’t distract him, Deidara and Itachi moved their things up the stairs to Itachi’s room. Itachi finally got to let out the smirk that he’d been holding back. Perfect. Excellent. Just like he had planned. Now he just had to make sure that he was only home when Mikoto was home. He felt like he could clasp his hands together and snicker deviously, except his door slammed behind him and Deidara locked the door and gave him a shove from behind.

“What are you up to, un?” he demanded, folding his arms.

“What are you talking about?” he asked, feigning innocence. Deidara stared at him, trying to figure out if he was lying or not, but the blond either gave up, or decided to think on it later because he dropped his arms and climbed up to lie on his bed. Stretched on his stomach like that, Itachi had a nice view of Deidara's butt in his jeans. He said nothing so it wouldn’t go away. It was a very nice butt.

“Are you using me to get under your father’s skin?” Deidara asked, shuffling through his homework papers.

“No,” Itachi replied, before even considering the idea of telling him the truth. He had thought about it, but after spending time at the garage, he did enjoy spending time with Deidara. He should tell him the truth.

Climbing up onto the bed, he rolled on top of Deidara, pressing him down into the bed. Deidara jumped and spun around under him with easy skill, ready to yell at him, but Itachi clamped his mouth shut with his own hand, leaning down over top of him to keep him immobile. He growled for Deidara to settle down so he could tell him something, but the blond refused, digging his fingers painfully into Itachi’s side and back. Finally catching one of his wrists with his free hand, Itachi twisted it painfully, watching Deidara wince but didn’t yell. 

“What did I do to you?” Itachi demanded, frustrated by his continuous fighting. “I’m not going to hurt you like other people do, I don’t want to hurt you. Why the hell are you always so angry at me?”

Azure eyes sharpened over his hand, his struggle started again, but Itachi twisted his wrist again and he froze. Itachi removed his hand a few inches in case he decided to answer. He did. “I hate you.”

“Why?” Itachi retaliated. “You keep saying I’m just like those assholes you go out with at night, but I don’t offer money to fuck you. I don’t hurt you like they do. I see you when you come home from your little night dates. You’re a mess. I’ve never done something like that to you and you know it. I tried to kiss you once.”

“What are you doing now then?” Deidara demanded, twisting his mouth out of Itachi’s hand.

Itachi gave a shrug, placing his hand down on the bed next to him. “Your ass looked nice,” he admitted quietly. Deidara scoffed and gave him a painful jab in the side with his fist. Itachi winced but didn’t get off him. “I’m sorry, it did,” he muttered. 

“I know what my ass looks like, un,” Deidara snapped. “Get the fuck off me, Itachi.” A sudden movement threatened a kiss, Deidara turning his head to avoid it, but Itachi’s cheek only brushed his softly.

“I’m not like them,” Itachi whispered in his ear.

The weight of Itachi shifted off him. He watched Itachi push his hair off his face as he went over to his desk to sit down. His rant on Deidara’s behavior done for the day, he’d gone to do his own homework before dinner. Deidara sat up and rubbed his wrist, glaring at the brunette’s back. “I don’t know why you think you can keep doing shit like that and expect me to change my mind, un,” he growled.

“I don’t know,” Itachi whispered. “Because I don’t understand you, I guess.”

Deidara stared at his back, then at the door. He didn’t want to be in the same room as Itachi anymore. He got up and left the room, going down to help Mikoto set up for dinner. He really had no idea if Itachi was only using him or not. He suspected he was, to get under his father’s skin. What Deidara didn’t understand was why he hadn’t asked him to help out in the first place. If he had, he probably would have agreed to it and it would have been a lot of fun, but no. Itachi didn’t ask and he told him he wasn’t using him. Itachi wasn’t good at lying.

Either way, dinner that night was hilarious. Fugaku looked sick from the amount of self-control he was using up not to leap across the table sending spaghetti, sauce, and quite possibly a few pieces of garlic bread to their doom on Mikoto’s beautiful rug she’d bought to replace the one covered in tiny pieces of glass to attack the blond sitting directly across from him with Itachi at his side and Sasuke to his left. He knew what he was doing every time he spoke in a bright happy voice, addressing Uchiha politely to pass the water, if he could spoon him some more sauce. Whenever Mikoto wasn’t looking in his direction, Deidara could see promises of pain and death in his future. Lots of pain. That was then, this is now. So he smiled charmingly and asked him if he could have another slice of bread. Every time he spoke, Itachi gave an involuntary twitch next to him and both Uchiha brothers’ facial muscles were working hard to keep from breaking out into grins and giggles.

“How was your day at work?” Mikoto asked her husband.

“It was good,” was the grunt in response.

“Just good, sir? You didn’t fight any crime today? Take down the bad guys?” Deidara asked, innocently wide eyed.

Itachi stood up suddenly. “Sorry, I need to use the bathroom,” he said before bolting as slowly as he darted out of the room.

“No,” Uchiha replied to him, eyes narrowing across the table.

Mikoto gave her husband a reproachful look at his uninformative answers. Deidara could see them sharing a conversation with their eyes, her telling Uchiha that he was just a curious, polite boy. “Deidara, how was school?”

“It was great,” Deidara said, beaming. He could see Itachi just behind the archway to the living room behind his parents, a pillow stuffed in his mouth. “I aced a test in algebra and my teacher said my grade is going up,” he smirked at Uchiha, “immensely.”

“Wonderful,” Mikoto said, happily. “Itachi’s tutoring has been really helpful.”

“Tutoring?” Uchiha asked, finally speaking up.

“Oh yeah, Itachi’s been helping me out over the last…week,” he didn’t bother covering up his smug grin as Uchiha’s fork came down a little too hard on his plate, his head turning to follow Itachi’s movements back to his chair, but gave a sigh like a steam engine and continued to eat his dinner.

Another few days passed quite similarly. Similar confrontations with Fugaku occurred, Itachi making sure his mother was home before bringing Deidara into the house. He didn’t want the blond getting hurt, but didn’t mind using him to make his father angry. He couldn’t tell if Deidara had figured out what he was doing, but Deidara was doing an excellent job of playing around with his father.

They were lying on Itachi’s bed studying. Itachi had AP chemistry to study for so he let Deidara do his own mock exams from his biology book. They’d been working since they had arrived back from school, alone in the house since Mikoto went out to the grocery store, and now – Itachi rubbed his eyes to look at the clock next to his bed – it was nearly 5:45. A glance over at his study partner found that the blond had fallen asleep on top of his book. He was pleased to see he at least finished all the questions before he passed out. He laid back down himself and propped his head up, smiling at the blond. He looked so calm, so unlike he was when awake.

He reached out to brush the blond’s cheek, to touch his soft looking skin, but changed his mind and gave him a little shake to wake him up. “Nice nap?” he asked as the blond yawned and stretched.

“Yeah,” was the mumbled reply. “Sorry if I drooled on your bed, un.”

“You didn’t, not even on your book,” Itachi told him, picking up his work and sat up to check it.

Deidara scoffed and sat up against the headboard. “Why bother, un?” he asked, glaring at the textbook. “I don’t know shit, un.” He looked tired and Itachi could see he was letting himself get worked up into irritation, self-doubt. “I should just go home. Go party and forget this bullshit, un.”

“You trust yourself so little?” Itachi asked, looking up in surprise. He hadn’t expected it from the blond. He always seemed so sure of himself. To hear doubt spoke by the blond just didn’t seem right.

“Just academically,” the blond muttered.

“I’ll make a bet with you,” Itachi said, smiling at him.

“A bet?” Deidara gave him a skeptical expression.

“If you get a 90% or higher, I win.”

Deidara’s eyes narrowed, suspicious, but intrigued at the same time. “What do you win, un?” he asked, folding his arms.

Itachi thought for a moment. “A kiss.”

Deidara gave him a fake laugh. “No.”

“Oh? Scared you’ll lose?” Itachi questioned, raising an eyebrow.

“What do I get if I win?” Deidara questioned back. “Eighty-nine or lower. You have to take me out to a club tonight and buy me drinks, and then leave. No babysitting, un.”

Itachi frowned a little. Deidara was trying to get a free night off him with the bet. “I’ve heard how much you can put away,” he protested. “I should get more than a kiss.” It did sound interesting though. He did want to know what it was like to be Deidara, maybe this was an opportunity. “Deal.”

Deidara snorted and leaned back again. “So grade it, un,” he said, pointing at the papers.

Itachi nodded and picked up the papers. He still felt a sense of achievement from this. Deidara thought so little of his academic skills that he was willing to bet. If he did well, Deidara would kiss him, if he didn’t, he got to see part of his life he hadn’t been able to see yet. Four papers graded in silence later, Itachi lifted his head to look over at Deidara who had been staring at him since he started. Itachi handed the papers to Deidara with a blank face, Deidara grinning confidently at his winning the bet, then looked down at the papers, his smile wiped from his face.

“95?!” he cried in disbelief. He glared at Itachi, “did you cheat? You just wanted to win, un!”

Itachi grinned back at him. “I didn’t do anything. You saw me grade it.” He leaned towards the blond, who backed up as far as he could against the headrest. “Hey, a loss is a loss.” He reached his hand behind Deidara’s neck to pull him into the kiss. Deidara was stiff, but didn’t struggle or push him away when their lips met. Itachi felt his heart beat a little faster when Deidara finally started kissing him back. Itachi eased him back down on the bed leaning over him to deepen the kiss. The blond wasn’t fighting back anymore, kissing him as thought it was his idea. His hand slid up on Itachi’s neck to pull him closer. Itachi grinned into the kiss, happily letting his hands slid down to roam over his torso.

“Hey,” Deidara warned as Itachi’s hand snaked a bit lower.

“Hey yourself,” Itachi murmured back, still grinning. “I told you’d I should get more than just a kiss.” Before Deidara could protest anymore, Itachi pressed his lips back against his, shoving the blond’s hand out of the way so he could slip his hand under his shirt to feel his warm skin.

Their make out session was interrupted as Itachi was dragged roughly to the floor, grunting as he fell. Deidara sat up in surprise, but a fist came across his face before he could see what happened. A hand grabbed handfuls of his hair by his scalp and pulled him back across the bed.

“You,” Fugaku’s voice was shaking with rage. Mikoto hadn’t returned home before Fugaku did. “Get out of this house. Now!”

Itachi pushed himself off the floor and grabbed his father’s arm. “He’s not doing anything wrong! Get out of my room!” he snapped, angry at the interruption.

His father let go of the blond and angrily shrugging his hand off himself. “And you,” his father glowered at him. “Letting this piece of shit into my house, knowing it would piss me off. Knowing I wouldn’t allow it! And I catch you doing this?!”

Downstairs the front door open and shut. “I’m home!” came the cheery call of Mikoto. “Honey? Could you come help me with the groceries?”

Fugaku gave a shuddering groan of frustration and turned towards the door. Pausing, he turned and pointed back at the blond, clutching his face where he’d been struck. “Consider yourself uninvited to our table,” he growled, then turned to storm down the stairs, grumbling the excuse of a bad day to her when she asked what was wrong. Itachi gave a huge sigh of relief, dropping down on the edge of the bed, hands in his head. That had been so close…wait.

“Are you okay?” he asked, spinning around to face Deidara. He reached out to take the blond’s hands from his face so he could see the damage. He wasn’t bleeding at least. “Shit…I’m sorry…I didn’t mean for you to get hurt. I—”

“Just wanted to use me to piss off your father, un?” Deidara asked, jerking his head out of his hands. Itachi stared at him, trying to formulate a protest, but the blond scowled and gathered his things to shove them into his bag.

Itachi shook himself out of his shock as the blond pulled his shoes out of his bag and tugged them on loosely before going to his window. “Deidara wait!” he cried, hurrying after him. Deidara paused in the tree, looking back at him. When Itachi found himself tongue tied into a million knots, he dropped down and walked away, leaving Itachi with the urge to bash his head into the window sill.


	10. Chapter 10

Despite his loss in the bet, Deidara got his night out to party like he wanted. It was completely free, too. Or well, as free as it was letting someone screw him in the bathroom stall for free drugs. Leading someone on at the bar to get free drinks. Maybe if he got drunk enough, he’d let them take him home. Everyone at the clubs had missed him. Everyone wanted to know where he’d been. If it wasn’t for the bitterness he’d left the Uchiha house in it would have been an excellent night. He lost count of his drinks, forgotten in the blur of dancing bodies, the weightlessness of drugs. He enjoyed himself, but there was still the edge of angry disappointment in him that he couldn’t drink away. He should have known. He suspected, but he let it go. He had thought Itachi’s offer to tutor him was an attempt to get close to him, maybe score points with Daichi. To get back at his father for his cruelty. Perhaps it was a little of all of it. Itachi had gotten it all. He’d been played like a deck of cards. Used.

Arms slid around his waist, hands on his body, on sliding down his thigh. “Deidara, you okay?” a voice called over the loud speakers of the club. He smiled. He nodded. He gave him a grin and let him kiss his neck, the bar pressing uncomfortably against his chest. The voice bought him another drink. The bartender gave him a second glance. That meant ten. His friends had bought him ten different drinks. A second glance was ten, a few more than that was a frown and they stopped after fifteen. He had been doing this too long.

Too long, but he wouldn’t pass up another free drink. He reached at it, but the glass was taken away from him. Protests from behind him showed that this wasn’t the way the night was supposed to go. “Hey! Gimme back my—” he stopped, mouth clamping shut when he saw who was holding his drink. “Daichi…”

“That’s enough, Dei,” the mechanic said softly, just loud enough to be heard. “Come with me.”

“Fuck off, man. We’re having a good time. Aren’t we, Deidara?” the buyer protested, his arms going around Deidara’s waist in a possessive manner.

Deidara stared at the floor he could barely see, feeling like a shamed child. Daichi hated his habits, hated his nights out. Hated his drinking. Hated his drugs. Hated these people he let do what they liked to him. Daichi’s face was calm, but Deidara could see the rage in his eyes. So few people saw passed that calm face.

“Get your hands off him, before I force you to,” Daichi said in a cold voice. “It’s passed his bedtime.” Obeying the silent command, Deidara slipped out of the arms and went to stand with Daichi. A hand grasped his shoulder and steered him to the door.

“Daichi, what are you doing, un?” Deidara demanded as he was led out of the club. He tried to struggle out of his grip, but only stumbled and fell against the red Z parked there waiting for them.

Daichi didn’t speak until they were inside the car, pulled off and driving down the road. “You were supposed to be with Itachi,” Daichi said, not as coldly as he had been in the club, but still dangerous.

“He’s an ass! And he’s not my babysitter, un!” Deidara insisted, clenching his fists together. “I can do whatever I want. He’s just been using me to get on your good side and piss off his father, un! I won’t let—”

“You were supposed to race tonight. Did you forget?” Daichi asked in response. “You were supposed to bring Itachi in again so he could learn more about the racing to get him on the road.” Deidara froze, eyes widening in remembrance. He wouldn’t be much use with the amount of alcohol he’d consumed, and it was far too late to make up for it now. The races were over. At least he wasn’t too drunk to feel completely ashamed for his actions. Closing his eyes a moment, Daichi took a breath to calm himself down. Deidara instinctively leaned further away from him against the door. Daichi worked hard to keep himself calm, rarely raising his voice in anger. Not like he used to be. Deidara had seen both sides of that card and knew how angry he could be and how he expressed it. But he didn’t’ want to be like that anymore. Not with the expected arrival into his household in a few months’ time.

“I’m sorry Daichi,” Deidara finally murmured to fill the awkward silence that had filled the car. “I was just really pissed off. Uchiha hit me and it was all Itachi’s fault, un. I was…I wouldn’t have been much good either way tonight… I’m too pissed off.”

“If your suspicions were true about Itachi, why are you so upset?” Daichi asked, continuing on after pausing at a light.

Curling up on the seat, Deidara rest his head against the cold window before answering, alcohol working into his system making him feel miserable and words to slip out. “It was nice to feel like I had a friend who didn’t treat me like shit, un,” he replied. “I mean…besides you. And even you’re an asshole.”

Giving a soft chuckle, Daichi pulled up to the apartment building, shifting into neutral and turning to face him. “Being friends with someone doesn’t mean you have to stand each other every minute of the day,” he told him as Deidara looked over at him through the sweat clung strands of his hair. Daichi gave a soft laugh, “don’t know why I bother, giving advice when you’re so gone.” Deidara grinned at him as Daichi reached over and rubbed his head. “Go sleep it off, Dei. Tomorrow’s payday. Don’t come in grumpy,” he added as Deidara got out of the car.

“Sorry you lost tonight,” Deidara said, looking back into the car, “because of me, un…”

Another chuckle came from the man as he shifted gears. “I didn’t. When you didn’t show up to pick up your bike, I gave Itachi a call and decided to let him try,” Daichi said, sitting back in his seat comfortably. “You have a good eye, Dei. Even when you’re pissed as hell.”

The next morning, Itachi arrived at the garage as usual, saying good morning to the other workers gathered there. At the end of the races last night, Daichi had told him to come to the garage for payday. He was beckoned into Daichi’s office with the others and the mechanic had handed him an envelope with a few hundred dollars in his hand.

“Cash?”

“No, rich boy. Daichi’s gonna pay you for illegally racing with a traceable check.”

Several people laughed as though an inside joke had been told. He stared into the envelope, not really understanding. He had only raced once. Why would he receive so much money from one race? He glanced around at all the people in the shop. He’d never seen it so crowded either.

“You don’t think I make you all work for free, do you?” Daichi asked with an amused grin on his face. “Everyone who works in the garage does receive pay, if they race, they receive a percentage of the winnings. Some people race for cars, not money. Race enough, you can earn one of my cars – within reason, of course.”

“But…this is too much,” Itachi insisted. “I only raced once.”

“You also tutored Deidara,” Daichi reminded him.

“I offered, it was just a favor,” Itachi insisted, but Daichi just shook his head and told him he didn’t want to hear arguments against it.

The others left, the shop closed for the day so everyone could go do what they wanted to with their money. Save it, spend it, gamble it. It was their money now. Itachi stayed behind, offering to help out with anything Daichi needed while the others were away. The money in his pocket; the first he had ever earned by himself that wasn't allowance. It made him feel proud, despite that it had been earned illegally.

“Daichi, I have a straggler for you,” came a woman’s voice Itachi recognized and pinpointed as Rin. Daichi jumped up from his seat and went over to the side entrance to his wife with a warm smile. He kissed her nose affectionately as she hugged him and he led her back into their office to help her into his seat. She giggled softly as he sat on the arm of the chair, her hand rubbing his stomach affectionately. Itachi smiled at them, memories coming to him of a childhood before his father started taking his anger out on him. He and his mother had been like that sometimes.

The straggler walked into Daichi’s office with a sandwich from a combini. For the first time since Itachi had known him, Deidara looked shy as he walked into the room. He looked tired and bedridden. Itachi wondered if he had gone drinking after leaving his house last night. He walked in and gave Daichi a little smile, not looking at Itachi at all.

“Morning, sunshine,” Daichi commented, standing to go pat him on the shoulder. “How’s your head?”

Itachi stared at the blond, worry crossing his face, but then he realized Deidara had indeed gone out drinking last night. That had been what Daichi meant, not his head where his father had hit him. “Been better,” Deidara admitted, shrugging and stuffing the rest of the sandwich into his mouth.

He got up when Rin beckoned to him, saying the baby was kicking. She took his hands and placed them over her belly. Itachi watched in mild fascination as Deidara waited, then grinned suddenly. Another memory came to Itachi of when his mother was pregnant with Sasuke. He had been so excited to have a sibling, completely ready to be a big brother. Deidara, however, seemed completely out of place with the delicacy of pregnancy and babies. 

Reaching into his drawer, Daichi pulled out another envelope, much thicker than the one he had given Itachi, and handed it to Deidara. The nervous grin was replaced by a more familiar smirk as the familiar substance was in his hands, going into his pocket for safe keeping. “Thanks Daichi,” he said, tugging his jacket tighter.

Daichi nodded, then with a glance at Itachi, he leaned forward to whisper in the blond’s ear. Deidara listened then gave a little sigh and nodded. He complained as Daichi ruffled his hair, but it was with a laugh. “Come with me,” Daichi said, giving the blond a nudge in the back to make him leave the office.

“We never properly met,” Rin said, smiling at him as she pushed her dark bangs to the side. “I’m Rin, Daichi’s wife.” She held out her hand and they shook. “You know…I’ve never seen Deidara so stumped with a person before,” she said, still smiling.

“Everyone seems to associate the two of us together here,” Itachi commented. She gave a one shouldered shrug. “He’s not stumped, he’s pissed. He hates me, just wants me to go away.”

“Oh, he doesn’t hate you,” she assured him.

“He told me he did,” he muttered, feeling awkward standing and took one of the other chairs in the office.

“He didn’t mean it,” she said. “Trust me, you’d know if he hated you. I think he was just being overly defensive. He’s just as intrigued by you, Itachi, as you are by him. He likes you. The reasons he’s so frustrated around you is because he doesn’t know what to make of you. Everyone here,” she gestured to the garage, “everyone in his life, is known. He knows how to handle them. I think he was pissed off because he was hurt. He thought of you as a friend and let his defenses down, and it turned on him.”

“I didn’t turn—” he started, then stopped. Deidara’s accusations came back to his mind. He was just like them. And he was right. He had used him for his own manipulations, willing to throw him into danger’s path for his own gain. “I just…I don’t know.”

He felt diminished under her smiling gaze as she leaned back, rubbing her belly softly. “He’s a lot better when you’re around,” she told him. “That’s why Daichi likes you so much, too. He usually never teaches for free, nor does he let a newbie race for him. They both like you. They respect you.”

Itachi nearly laughed aloud at the thought, remembering like echoes the things Deidara had said to him, accused him of. “What makes you think Deidara respects me?” he questioned.

“Have you ever seen him use in front of you?” she questioned softly after a pause.

Itachi thought for a moment, frowning slightly. “He was smoking pot the first time I came to the apartment,” he offered, still frowning.

“Since?” she asked, more softly. Itachi shook his head slowly, watching her smile spread. “Deidara uses quite a lot,” she told him, sounding sad. “But when you’re here, he doesn’t. I think that’s why he’s been sleeping in the garage lately instead of going back to the apartment where it’s quieter and no one will bother him. He knows he’ll study here, but alone he’ll be tempted to do other things.”

“How do you know it’s me…?”

“I’ve known Dei since he was a little boy,” she told him with a grin. “He’s been with us longer than the others. I’ve seen him grow up. I don’t know him as well as Daichi but…” She looked towards the door as the two came back into the room with the air of having finished a serious talk. Daichi smiled and went to sit next to her, looking rather pleased with himself and it wasn’t until Deidara spoke in a barely audible voice that he figured out what it was.

“Um, Itachi? Could you…drive me to the store, un?” the blond asked, arms folded and not looking at him. “Please,” he added, chewing on his lower lip.

Startled, Itachi looked at Deidara then at the two sitting together with innocent grins on their faces. They were in it together, the sneaks. Itachi couldn’t see what he did that made a difference in Deidara as Rin said, or what Daichi had told him outside, but they seemed in a hurry to keep that difference going. “Sure,” he replied.

Giving him a nod, Deidara turned heel and walked for the door. All Itachi could manage was another look at the seated ones before following out to his car sitting just inside the open garage door. A beep to unlock the doors and they were in, driving down the busy road towards a large mall Deidara had instructed him to go to, which was sure to be packed given it was a Saturday. Five street lights later and they hadn’t spoken a word to each other. It was a silence that wanted to be filled with something. Itachi almost reached for the radio, but didn’t know what kind of music the blond listened to.

“I’m sorry,” Itachi finally said, wanting the awkward silence to end. “I’m sorry…you were right. I am just like them. Just…in a different way.” There, he said it. An apology. He hated apologizing. He was as bad at them as he was forgiving and forgetting something. Itachi preferred to keep everything filed away in his mind for later use.

“It’s alright, I’m used to it, un.”

Ouch. That wasn’t the forgiving answer he was hoping to receive. “That doesn’t make it okay,” he grumbled. “Just worse.” The blond didn’t answer. Itachi glanced over at him staring out the window looking lost in his thoughts. He enjoyed figuring people out, finding out what makes them tick. He was good at it, but Deidara had him completely stumped. He had gotten better at predicting what reactions he would make given a situation, but he couldn’t tell what or how the blond was thinking. It’s what fascinated him more than anything else. “What are you getting at the mall?” he asked, trying hard for some form of conversation.

Deidara’s response was short, to the point. He didn’t seem comfortable being friendly just yet. “Daichi says it’s going to get colder,” he told him. “I should get stuff for winter, un.”

“Oh,” Itachi replied. “Why go to the mall then?”

“There’s a second hand store on the other side, un.”

“Why not go to one of the bigger clothing stores and get real clothes? And a real bed and blankets?” he asked frowning as he turned the corner.

“Because normal people have bills, rich boy,” the blond explained, sounding annoyed. “Once I set aside the shit for that, other shit, and the shit for school, I won’t have much left, un.”

Itachi didn’t even flinch at the nickname. He’d gotten used to it and it had become less of an insult working in Daichi’s garage. The new quarter after winter break… The school was free to attend, but they did still manage to squeeze money out of you with uniforms, books and supplies. Christmas was coming up too, and he could only assume that drugs were included in the ‘other shit’ category.

“I’ll make a deal with you,” Itachi said, glancing over him as he parked in front of the mall, pulling the emergency break up. “I’ll pay for the winter stuff if you help me find something for my mom, buy us lunch and actually talk to me.”

The glare he gave him was more confused than angry. “You want to pay for all my stuff?” he asked, making sure he heard right. Itachi nodded. Deidara scoffed. “It’s your money, un.”

“Like everyone keeps reminding me, I’ve got plenty more,” Itachi said, shrugging as he got out. “If it makes you feel any better, I’ll use the money my father puts into my account to pay for it all.” He snickered at the thought, then realized what he said and stopped, turning to Deidara and caught his arm gently to make him stop walking. “I am sorry. I didn’t think it would go that far. I didn’t want you to get hurt, but after seeing you go at it too, I didn’t think you’d care.”

Deidara looked up at him a moment, then wrapped his arms around himself to keep his hoodie tight and sighed. The sigh seemed to let out all the irritation he had built up against him. “It was nice to hang out with someone who didn’t just want to get something from me, un,” Deidara muttered without really looking at him, shrugging. “I mean…you really seemed to think that I could do better in school. No one else gave a shit, except Daichi and Rin and they don’t have time to help me, un.”

“I’m still willing to tutor you, if you want,” Itachi said, stepping out of the way of an incoming car. They started walking towards the door again. Deidara made a noise as he entered, heading towards the secondhand store, but Itachi took his shoulders and steered him differently. “I’ve seen you wear nice clothes,” Itachi said, voicing his thoughts. “Why do you usually wear the more run down clothes?” He was happy Deidara was speaking sentences to him again and hoped for more.

“Those are for clubbing, and entertaining,” Deidara explained as they walked into a store. Itachi watched him glance at a pile of folded jeans and glance at Itachi. Itachi made a motion that he could get whatever he wanted, so he took two his size and also grabbed a few long sleeve shirts, another hoodie and a new jacket. “You know, going out with people? Dressing like trash doesn’t impress most people who are willing to throw money at me, un,” his voice sounded casual and a little distracted as he looked at sizes. “We don’t just go to some hotel and do whatever they want. Sometimes I’m a guest to a dinner at a fancy restaurant somewhere, so I have to dress nice. Sometimes they don’t mind what I wear, cause it makes them look good to be doing ‘charity’ work.”

Itachi gave a slow nod, understanding and interested, storing the information for later. He didn’t know much about people like that. He wondered if anyone from his family was like that as well. He supposed they did brag about charities they had donated to during the holidays, but didn’t mention anything like that. Why would they? Itachi paid for the clothes and they walked out, talking about cars and the race Itachi had the night before since Deidara had missed it. He wanted to know everything. Who he had been racing, what car, what had Daichi put at stake, did he know his time? Itachi couldn’t help but smirk, a sense a pride rising as he told him.

Daichi had called him to come, he had thrown his mother the excuse that the garage was having a late birthday party for someone and he was invited, which she agreed to let him go. He had once again stayed away from all the noise and partiers, feeling so out of place he wanted to go home, so he tried to focus on Daichi and the business part of it all. There was never a pattern to the meetings or the place. The top guys in the group would pick the day and they’d tell their people, who’d tell their friends. Sometimes it was at a deserted street instead of a parking structure, but being out in the open was dangerous and the races were usually shorter. Even with no notice, a large group of people and the sounds of engines would attract anyone if they were out in the open. Daichi had called him asking for Deidara. When Itachi told him what happened, Daichi had suggested he come anyway.

“Hey, Itachi,” the mechanic had approached him after a discussion with a strange man Itachi didn’t know. “Would you like to race tonight? Deidara isn’t here and they’re willing to race the new rookie on my team instead.” He grinned at him, brushing his hand through his usual spiked hair. “I think they’re underestimating your abilities, but what do you say? You can back out if you want for tonight since it’s only your second time here.”

“No, I can race,” Itachi told him with a nod. “I’m not interested in all this other stuff.” He made a motion towards the partying going on around them which made Daichi laugh as he told him to bring his car to the starting line. When Itachi pulled up, Daichi leaned in and muttering the few rules quickly to him.

The car he was facing was a Nissan 350, the orange and black paint job wouldn’t have been his first choice, but the engine purred contently from where it waited at the starting point. He hadn’t had a chance to test the new modifications and tune ups. It made him excited and nervous at the same time, but he trusted Daichi’s work. He had never raced inside a building before, his heart pounding with anticipation. His eyes narrowed as he examined the road before him. The parking structure’s roads would be slicker, giving the car and easier slide, like a newly paved road. It’d be hard to get the car into control if it spun out, but taking tight corners would be easier.

Ready…

Set…

“GO!”

Squealing tires barely covered up the sound of cheers and screams of people watching as the cars peeled down the strip towards the first curve. Both cars were fighting for a lead to get them around the corner first, but Itachi shifted at the last minute to pull up in front to take the curve first, tires screaming in protest against the pavement as the RX drifted smoothly into the next level, taking the lead and keeping it.

“The adrenaline wasn’t like anything I’d ever felt before,” Itachi told Deidara as they sat down in the food court, eating lunch. Deidara had paid like they agreed. The blond had gone for a slice of pizza with every topping imaginable, a container of fries, a milkshake, and a small bowl of noodles. Itachi had a sandwich, a salad with chicken, and a bottle of flavored water. He was still playing sports after all and had no interested it eating unhealthily. He’d offered Deidara a bite, but the blond informed him that he liked his fattening, unhealthy pizza and would gladly give him some if he wanted to try something normal for a change.

“It’s fun, right?” the blond questioned around a mouthful of fries. “You should see when there aren’t any races and people just show off on their bikes and such, un. It’s fun.”

Itachi grinned a little as he drank his water. Deidara looked like he was enjoying himself. Itachi realized that he had only even seen Deidara looking sullen and acting smug, but he’d never seen him being his normal self around him. He was extremely talkative, but also listened raptly to his story. He laughed a lot and grinned a lot. Itachi liked this version of him much better. They had several bags under their tables filled with new clothes, including warming socks that were supposed to be for snowboarding, but Itachi suggested they might be good for his bike, a heavy comforter that Deidara had dived onto to demonstrate to Itachi how thick it was, and a few fleece blankets as well. It was a trick he learned from his mother, having them between him and the sheets always ensured an extra layer of warmth. There was also a small bracelet in his pocket that he and Deidara had picked out for his mother for Christmas. He had used his own money for that purchase, spending nearly all of the money Daichi had given him on it. It was the first thing he could purchase with his own money. He was proud.

“Do you show off on your bike?” Itachi asked, grinning as Deidara tried to eat the stretch of cheese from his mouth to the slice of pizza and answer at the same time. “I prefer cars over bikes,” he added, so Deidara didn’t have to rush to finish his mouthful. “Feels safer. More control.”

“I like it,” Deidara said after he’d swallowed. “The wind rushes past you, you feel like you’re a second away from falling…it’s great, un!”

“I’ve actually never been on a motorcycle before,” Itachi told him, finishing the rest of his salad. “You could take me for a ride sometime after school when the weather gets warmer; I’m not too fond of the cold.”

“Pussy,” he accused, snickering as he stuffed the last of his crust into his mouth. The piece was way too big to have done that. “Wanna go to the arcade before we go?” came the muffled question as he tried to chew his mouthful.

Itachi grimaced, both at the way he was talking around the crust he was sure the blond would choke on as well as the thought of the arcade. At the blond’s questioning look, he responded, “you want me to subject myself to the obnoxiously loud music, screaming kids, blaring games and bright lights that would not only give any normal person a headache, but makes you lose all the money you came with to buy something you could get at a Daiso for less?”

Deidara grinned, finally swallowing the crust. “I’m glad you see the appeal,” he told him, getting up and gathering his things. “Let’s put this stuff into your car first. We won’t stay long, un,” he assured him.

Groaning softly, Itachi followed him back out to his car, opening the trunk for him to put his bags in and then walked, much slower than Deidara who kept giving him annoyed looks as he had to double back or wait for him to catch up again. The arcade was just as loud as Itachi predicted, but Deidara grabbed his arm and dragged him over to crane games. Itachi tried to insist that these games were rigged, but the blond still played. To Itachi’s surprise, after three tries, Deidara managed to get the toy inside. Even more to his surprise, the same thing happened on the next one, and then the next one.

“Are you cheating?” Itachi asked in wonder, leaning close in case someone over heard them.

“Nope,” Deidara said, handing him a Rilakkuma plushy in addition to the three other toys. “It’s all in the timing and angles, un. Once I get a feel for it, it’s easy.”

Itachi stared at him. Was he saying that all it took was applied physics to get this done? And he was doing it after only one or two tries. “That is… extremely impressive,” he told him.

The blond beamed at him, pushing him to the back of the arcade and into a purikura booth. “I don’t like getting my picture taken,” Itachi protested as Deidara put money into the machine.

“Too bad!” Deidara said, hoping inside with him. Itachi refused to pose with him, standing stoic while the blond posed for the camera. Unfortunately Deidara got him on the last one, jumping into his arms at the last second, causing Itachi to desperately try to catch hold of him, while the blond laughed. Next, he was pushed into an American style photo booth and the blond tried again. This time Deidara succeeded in the last two frames. In his final attempts, he had grabbed a handful of Itachi’s ass, causing him to gasp and jump, which he was sure the camera caught, then another as he was glaring at Deidara who was giving him a beaming, yet still innocent look. Well, at least one of them was amused.

As they got back in the car, Deidara asked him to take him back to the apartment so he could go back to sleep. Itachi wondered what the point of the photo booth was, but as they came to a stopped at a light, he saw Dediara, out of the corner of his eye, slowly fold one of the strips so it wouldn’t mess up the pictures and slip it into his wallet. He was saving it, Itachi realized in complete astonishment. Why?

Wallet tucked away, Deidara began fiddling with the radio looking for a station he liked. Itachi let him, not wanting the day out to end on a sour note.

'I think he was pissed off because he was hurt. He thought of you almost as a friend and let his defenses down, and it turned on him.'

Ruby speckled eyes glanced over at the blond as they drove deeper into the city where the apartment was. Did he really have so few friends that would hang out with him at the mall without taking advantage of him in some way? Or was it that he had them, but couldn’t put his defenses down? Itachi would have to think on that later when he was alone. Profiling Deidara was more complicated than any of the mystery books he had read. In fact, he’d been so busy he hadn’t read a new one in quite some time. Sometimes it bothered him that he had so little alone time, but seeing Deidara carefully storing away the picture like a keepsake of their time together made him want to smile.

It was a success he hadn’t planned on. Yet it made him feel more satisfied than any even the kiss had.


	11. Chapter 11

Tension is one of the things that doesn’t require a psychic’s ability to feel. Especially the jealous kind of tension. It hung invisible in the air, yet with the right push, could explode like a heavy thunderstorm that raged angrily for hours. It was also incredibly annoyed when the tension was directed at your back and you haven’t the faintest clue why.

“What is going on?” Itachi whispered, finally snapping in irritation of it all to the blond sitting across from him at the kitchen table of the car garage. The blond looked up from his science book he was doing his homework from, a confused expression passing over his face. “Why does everyone here suddenly hate me now?”

Despite his explanation, Deidara still looked confused. His confusion made Itachi wonder if he was imagining it, but he knew he wasn’t. “What do you mean?” the blond asked, twirling his pencil between his fingers. Much to Deidara’s relief, the tutoring sessions had dwindled down to homework only as he had finally caught up with the extra work. Itachi was having him spend an hour or two a day on homework and a quick study for next classes. The blond was very grateful for both the continuing homework help as well as the diminishing of time consuming and very boring studies.

Itachi folded his arms over his own textbook, but didn’t lean completely on it. His posture was too good for that. “It just seems like… everyone here suddenly is pissed off at me,” Itachi said, gesturing back at the garage. “What did I do?”

Ever since he and Deidara had returned from their shopping trip, the two of them had been friendlier, spending more time together. Deidara had generally remained silent around him previously, but now he barely stopped talking unless they were working on school work. Their relationship was odd, but they were usually together. A friendship it was, though more often than not, a nasty argument would spring up with neither of them speaking to each other. Itachi had more control over his temper than the blond. Deidara was almost spoiled with it, even turning over one of the large tool chests during one particular heated argument. Daichi had stepped in them and made them clean up, then sent Deidara out of the garage to cool off. Still, there was some underlining tolerance between them. When they did get along, the blond never stopped talking. He talked while they fixed cars, he talked while he painted details on some of Daichi’s cars, he talked on their way back from school. How the blond never ran out of things to talk about was a new World Wonder. Deidara liked him because he didn’t push for the thing that Itachi had been trying to take from him. Itachi still wanted it, Deidara knew it too, but Itachi didn’t push, content to stay as they were for now. But he did notice that since their shopping trip, many of the people working for Daichi, or visiting on payday, seemed cold to him.

“I think you’re seeing things, un,” Deidara told him. Itachi was certain he wasn’t, though he was sure he would figure it out eventually, but it was bothering him. Maybe they were mad that he was taking all of Deidara’s attention away from them. It was possible, though rather foolish in his mind. He watched Deidara pause with his pencil over his paper, waiting to see if Itachi was going to keep talking. This was an invitation for conversation.

“Hey, Deidara?” he asked as though he hadn’t noticed the blond’s waiting, trying not to grin. Deidara glanced up, chin resting in his palm as he pretended to pull himself away from his homework. “Why don’t I ever see you race?”

The most devious grin he’d ever seen spread across the blond’s face when he heard the question. The blond sat up straighter, putting his pencil down, a sure sign that Deidara had completely lost interest in studying now that there was a more entertaining subject to think on. Itachi wondered if the blond didn’t have undiagnosed ADD to something similar.

“People are usually too scared, un,” was his short response, despite his grin. It promised more to come as Itachi probed him for an explanation. “I don’t like racing with cars, un. I usually use my bike, but I still race against cars if I’m allowed. People are scared they’ll kill me.” He laughed at the thought of dying.

Images of motorcycle verses a car came into Itachi’s head. Then Deidara’s driving against a car in those tight turns of the parking structure, combined with motorcycle accidents making him cringe a little. Maybe he shouldn’t see Deidara race, it might not be good for his nerves. He wondered if Deidara was confusing fear for his safety for fear with fear for his driving. He could kill someone, and himself. The look on his face was misread by the blond, taking the fear of devastation as awe in his yet to be seen skills. Deidara leaned back with his fingers laced behind his head, his ego plastered on his face.

“I’ve only lost once – well, twice, but one was against Daichi. The only reason I lost the other one is cause the bitch I was racing got frustrated and slammed into me on purpose, un,” Deidara told him solemnly. “I wasn’t supposed to get out of bed for a few weeks, but it was nothing.”

War wounds.

“That’s not the worse accident you’ve had on your bike?” Itachi questioned to give the audience Deidara obviously wanted. There was that grin again. How could anyone be so proud of their careless acts? Of their injuries?

“Nope!” Deidara replied, standing up and unbuttoning the white school shirt he hadn’t taken off yet. Pushing it away and lifting up the tank top he was wearing underneath, he showed off his thin torso, lean with very little body fat. He had more muscles from working on cars than his feminine featured displayed when covered. Leaning closer, Itachi saw the skin on one side was paler, newer than the other side, though it was hard to tell at first glance. It went all the way up to his arm and disappeared into the waistband of his jeans. “I was practicing taking sharp turns on my bike going real fast to get better at it in the racing. Lost traction with the street and skidded too far into traffic. The truck stopped, but its front tire caught the front end of the bike as it was going horizontal with the road and dragged me around under the truck, un.”

Like the good audience he was, Itachi gave a low hiss at the mental image he was getting from the blond’s story. One of the reasons he preferred cars to bikes was that cars were much safer than motorcycles. He didn’t need to hear his father’s rants growing up about how someone died in a motorcycle accident to think they were dangerous and reckless. He figured that one out on his own. The blond was still showing off his scar, letting Itachi’s eyes wander over his torso a moment. Something else caught his eye. “What are these from?” he asked, leaning over the table to touch the thick looking scars that raked over his side over top of the crash scar. He looked like a giant cat had attacked him in some back alley, though he couldn’t imagine what kind of Meow Mix that cat was eating.

He watched Deidara glance down to see what he was talking about before letting his shirt drop back down to cover the exposed skin. “One scar story at a time, un,” he said, grinning as he left the room. Itachi got up to follow him as he climbed up into his bunk.

“At least tell me what demonic cat did that to you so I can be better prepared when I leave my house at night,” Itachi joked, watching Deidara’s bunk as the blond disappeared to change his clothes. There was a race going on tonight, he had cleared it with his parents earlier.

He heard the blond laugh as he swung his legs over the side of the bunk to climb down, pulling a long sleeved t-shirt on as he did. “It was a rare species of cat called a barbed wire fence, un,” Deidara told him, but gave him a meaningful stare that Itachi decided was to remind him that he only told one scar story at a time. Itachi huffed in distaste. What a stupid rule. Especially when Deidara’s stories were so interesting. Some people were just accident prone, but Deidara seemed to look for accidents and try to figure out the best way possible to make it ten times worse than it could haven for the average human being.

Giving Deidara a reproachful look for denying him the story, he went to gather his books up so he could put them in their car when they left. “Wait, aren’t you going to the races too?” he asked, as Deidara laced up his black construction boots. “Aren’t you getting…dazzled up?” Not that he had doubts Deidara would be able to dazzle someone wearing any variety of clothes, but he was used to much nicer clothes than this. These clothes were just…plain.

“So?” the blond asked, going into the bathroom to brush through his thick hair to pull it all back into a low pony tail, much like his own.

“So… why aren’t you?” Itachi asked, a little irritated that Deidara was making him ask specific questions instead of answering all that his questions implied. 

Deidara smirked at him in the mirror then turned to walk out, giving the end of Itachi’s pony tail a little tug. “Tonight’s your lucky night,” he replied, pulling his hoodie on then his leather jacket. “Daichi asked me to race tonight, un.”

The volume in the lot was much louder than normal. Everyone was excited to see Deidara race. Only a few people were dancing, everyone else crowded around the racing path way, getting into their favorite spots to get the best views of the turns. Despite the excitement around him, Itachi couldn’t help but feel a cloud of impending doom hanging on him like a plague. It appeared as though Deidara could see it hanging over him, because the blond didn’t look pleased that he was the only person not excited about him racing. Even Daichi seemed a little excited underneath the ever present mask of calmness that munched silently on a bag of mini chocolate chip cookies. Deidara swore to Itachi that it was there, but the mechanic looked the same as he always did to Itachi’s untrained eye.

Just like cars, the bikes were raced one on one in the lot. Deidara’s black bike with its painted neon designs stood next to his opponent’s green one. Deidara tried once more to get Itachi to look excited for him, but failed so he put his helmet on and went back to his bike, shaking his head. Itachi knew far less about bikes than he did about cars. The only thing he could tell was that the side of Deidara’s bike said Suzuki on the side. He’d never seen a motorcycle race and flashes of news channels talking about crashes and someone killed such and such a way were going through his mind, setting his heart racing in panic.

“He’s not afraid,” Daichi’s voice startled him out of what could have turned into hyperventilation.

“He should be!” Itachi hissed, glancing from the two bikes to Daichi and back. “Fear is a very valuable human trait!”

A small grin spread across Daichi’s lips a moment. “Yeah, but Deidara believes that fear only holds us back from the things we think we can’t do or can’t stand. There are things he’s afraid of, but his own life isn’t one of them.”

“That is horrible,” Itachi growled. “He could get himself killed.”

“It would make him laugh to hear you say that,” Daichi told him. “Deidara thinks himself as invincible, because nothing has killed him yet. Not even jumping off a building, miraculously.”

Itachi turned to face him fully. “Aren’t you worried for him? He could die!”

“Deidara is a very skilled driver,” Daichi assured him. “Very.”

Itachi started to argue, but Daichi held his hand up, motioning for him to pay attention to the bikes. “The start of the race is the more exciting part when bikes are racing,” he explained. They’re faster in the lots than cars are, so we’ll have to hurry to the elevators if you want to see the end.”

Itachi’s attention went to the two racers, revving their engines. The man starting the race moved to stand between them, throwing his hands down with a shout Itachi couldn’t hear over the scream of the tires on the pavement and the roar of the watching crowd. When he was racing in his car, he would drive as fast as he could to the corner, but to make the drift smooth around the sharp corners he would have to shift down a gear and slow. As he watched them approach the corner, he saw that neither slowed, both still fighting for the first inner turn. A scream for him to slow down was on the tip of his tongue even though he knew Deidara couldn’t hear him, when Deidara’s foot came off the side of the bike as they started to turn. At a sharp angle with the pavement, he used his foot as a root to the ground for the brief millisecond he needed to jerk the bike around the corner, lifting it as the bike continued on, taking the lead away from the slightly wider turn of the other rider.

“He knows how to not get himself killed too though,” Daichi commented, chuckling at Itachi’s hands clasped over his mouth in horror. Taking Itachi’s elbow, he led him over to the elevators where people were rushing. A few people let Daichi go in front of them, leaving them to get the first elevator waiting. After seeing the first turn of the race, Itachi had no doubt Deidara would win, though he now had serious doubts about whether he’d ever get on the back of a bike with him.

“Does he always drive so…crazy?” Itachi asked as the elevator ascended to the roof.

Daichi nodded, popping another cookie in his mouth. “There’s only one person Deidara cares about in the world, and that person doesn’t care if he lives or dies, so he feels he has nothing to lose in the world,” Daichi told him, looking a little distant. “He believes that living free like that is art. You could say…he lost it at a sadly young age.”

“Who does he—” Itachi’s question was cut off as the elevator doors opened on the roof where there were several cars and many people already there. Dancing and drinking while they waited for the racers to arrive. Not even half of the population that had been on the first floor at the start of the race was at the top when the spitting purr of the motorcycles came from below them. Just one more turn and up the drive to the top and the winner would be named. Who would it be?

Itachi almost laughed at himself for the thought. Who else would win such a demonic race, but the devil himself? This particular devil was blond and shooting up the drive, showing off as he drove with only his rear wheel touching the ground. The front made contact with the ground again and Deidara slid to a stop in front of the cheering crowd. He kicked his bike stand out so he could climb off, cheering for himself as he pulled his helmet off. Itachi saw money being exchanged between Daichi and another man, both congratulating themselves on their excellent racers.

Standing alone, Itachi watched the smirking blond greet and accept the congratulations from the people surrounding him. His attention wasn’t completely on them, eyes searching for something. Itachi smiled, knowing he was looking for himself, but waited until the Deidara spotted him to start towards the blond as he broke free of the crowd, coming to a quick stop in front of him. “Well? What’d you think, un?” he demanded, arms folded, but that victorious smirk was unable to fade away.

“Daichi had to restart my heart with CPR in the elevator,” Itachi told him, offering him a small grin. “I’ve never seen anything like it.” He watched Deidara throw his head back and laugh the laugh one gives when they’ve been proven right about something. So arrogant. Itachi had a feeling a big loss would be good for his ego, but he would let him savor the victory until then.

“Told you I’m awesome,” Deidara said.

“Hey Deidara!” someone called from a small group approaching them. “We’re going out to celebrate, wanna come?”

Itachi gave a soft sigh. If people were going out it was time for him to go home. He wouldn’t go out drinking only to come home and possibly give away to his father that he wasn’t out doing innocent things. His mother would vouch for him, but that didn’t mean Fugaku wouldn’t allow him to be around things he hated so much.

“Well, nice win,” he said, knowing it sounded lame, catching Deidara’s attention again. “I’ll see you tomorrow, or something.” He start to turn towards the elevators, when Deidara caught his arm to stop him. Before he could protest that he couldn’t go out drinking with them, Deidara turned to grin back at the group.

“Sorry guys,” he told them. “I promised Itachi I’d be hanging out with him tonight, un.” He turned back to Itachi and nudged him to the elevator.

“You are?” Itachi asked, just as stunned as the people they left.

“Let me go drop my bike off at the garage, un,” he said, waving him away as he turned to hurry over to his bike. “Hurry up!”

Itachi stared after him as he pulled his helmet on and jumped onto his bike. Turning quickly he hit the elevator button and waited for it to come before getting onto it and jabbing the button for the third floor. What in the world was going on? He reached the floor where he had parked his car, hurrying out while digging into his pockets for his keys. Deidara came down a few second later, cutting him off on his walk to the car by doing circles around him. Itachi froze, staring at him as he did then pulled off. His visor covered his face, but Itachi could practically feel his grin as he did it. Shaking his head, he got into his car and followed after him. He caught up at a light and Deidara pushed his visor up, a mischievous smirk on his face.

Knowing what he was grinning about, he hurriedly cracked his window open. “I am not racing you to Daichi’s,” Itachi called to him. “I’m not.”

Deidara pushed the visor back down, revving his engine up. Shit this bastard was actually— The light turned green and Itachi shifted into gear automatically and together they peeled off. Itachi was sure their speeds would be evenly matched, but he had a feeling Deidara knew the streets better than he did, especially for a quick get-away. Deidara also kept pulling dangerously close to him, testing him. He knows how to not get himself killed. He knows how to not get himself killed. Itachi glanced over at him and jerked his car towards Deidara who quickly darted away from him. The blond gave him the middle finger and Itachi grinned, drifting into a turn. They raced the whole way to the garage, Itachi in the lead until the blond suddenly zoomed out in front of him, making him slam on his breaks to avoid hitting the blond. Deidara slid to a stop in front of Daichi’s and hopped off to do a victory dance.

“What the hell,” Itachi said, getting out. “I almost hit you. That’s cheating.”

“Oh, I didn’t know there were established rules, un,” Deidara laughed, opening the garage door so he could pull his bike inside. He came out a few minutes later, making a face as he closed the garage door.

“What?”

“There’s some people sleeping in the bunks,” he said, tapping his foot impatiently.

“So?” Itachi asked, confusion all over his face.

Deidara made a thoughtful face, sauntering up closer to him. “Well,” he began, “I was thinking…maybe you could show me exactly how Daichi restarted your heart, un.”

Itachi nearly dropped his keys. “What?”

“Oh, were you completely unconscious the whole time?” Deidara asked, a smirk creeping over his face. “Don’t remember how?”

He blinked, taking a step closer to him. “Are you serious?” he asked, staring at him.

“I kinda skipped that day in health class,” Deidara told him, also stepping closer.

Itachi swallowed, unable to believe what Deidara was telling him, fully understanding the underlying meaning of it. What had changed his mind, Itachi could only guess, but he wouldn’t let it be passed up. “Well, you tilt your head back to clear the airway, then move closer to give the person breath back,” Itachi murmured, fingers sliding behind Deidara’s neck, thumb pushing up to tilt his chin as he leaned forward to finally kiss him without having to force or trick him into it. And he kissed him back without hesitating. Somehow they reached his car, falling against the hood. “Too cold,” Itachi gasped, not wanting to stop but he definitely did not want to do this on top of his car, outside in the cold. Maybe on top of the car, just not outside in the cold.

“Apartment’s 15 minutes away,” Deidara murmured, his kisses moving down his neck.

“My house is in 10,” Itachi groaned. Somehow they made it back into the car, driving to his house. Everyone was home and very much asleep. Being as quietly as he could, Itachi parked his car and pulled his keys out. The problem with being quiet is that it’s amusing to try to be quiet, making you laugh at snicker at the slightest noise that wouldn’t even catch a mouse’s attention. Together they shushed each other as they crept into the house and up the stairs to Itachi’s room. It was dark, the only light coming through the window. Itachi closed and locked the door, watching Deidara’s silhouette against the window as it creeped deeper inside. He snickered quietly as he saw him trip on the bed and fall onto it. Itachi shushed him as he climb up onto the bed, kicking his shoes off as he did, leaning down to kiss him again, happy the blond continued to return it. He felt Deidara’s hand sliding up the side of his body, keeping his hands off the top of his shirt and jacket as he did so.

“It’s not fun like that.”

“I know,” he heard Deidara whisper as he sat up, forcing Itachi to sit on the bed as he swung his leg over to straddle his lap. Itachi groaned softly as he rubbed their hips together, the blond slowly unbuttoning his shirt, his head bending down to kiss collar bone, nibbling on his shoulder. He pushed Itachi's shirt off him, mouth moving to his neck as he tossed his shirt back somewhere into the dark room, his kisses becoming rougher.

“You too,” Itachi gasped, reaching up to tug at Deidara’s leather jacket.

“Not yet,” the blond crooned in his ear. He could feel him grinning against his skin.

Frowning in frustration, Itachi grabbed Deidara’s shoulders and pushed him away, turning so the blond was under him again. “No, now,” he grumbled, pulling Deidara’s leather jacket off of him, then his hoodie, nowhere near as gracefully as Deidara had taken his own off. Itachi grumbled that the blond was wearing too many layers, earning a snorting chuckle from the blond. He shushed him again, finally peeling his shirt off him. His mouth found Deidara’s neck, kissing into the curve as he reached up to tug Deidara’s hair free of its tie. Pulling away, he looked down at Deidara, barely able to see him except for the little light from the street lamp outside his window. He was thin, but Itachi thought working on cars and walking most places allowed him more muscles than Itachi expected. His hands tangled in his hair as he pulled his head off the bed to kiss his mouth, plunging his tongue inside to taste him. He tasted like chocolate. Oh yeah, he’s taken one of Daichi’s cookies before he raced.

Deidara’s hands were roaming lower than hands in any other situation should roam, tugging at his belt to get it free, fumbling with the buttons. Breaking the kiss, Itachi sat up, though he kept a firm hand on Deidara's chest to keep him on the bed, not wanting to confuse who would be the dominant one, as he undid them himself. He had to take his hand off him to take them off without looking stupid, tossing them on the floor. Deidara hadn't stayed put like he wanted him to, sliding out from under him to unbuckle his own pants, sliding them off and dumping them off the side of the bed. Reaching out, Itachi slide his hands down Deidara’s back until his fingers slid under his ass that felt just as good as it looked and gripped him tightly, lifting him up against him. He smirked a little when Deidara gave a short gasp, grabbing onto Itachi’s shoulders.

“Damn you’re strong, un,” Deidara commented, smirking as he wrapped his legs around Itachi’s waist.

“You’re just light,” Itachi whispered, loosening his grip so he lowered into his lap. Deidara’s hips rocked slowly against his, moaning into the kiss so Itachi had to shush him again, thought it was with a soft snicker. “Can you manage to keep quiet?” he grinning into the kiss.

“Can you?” Deidara snorted in distaste.

“I asked first,” Itachi replied, moving his mouth to his neck again, sinking his teeth into the meaty flesh, slamming him back onto his back. He heard Deidara hold back a strangled gasp, or a cry, maybe both, his fingernails dragging long claw marks down his shoulders. Even though he was holding back the noise Itachi lifted his mouth from his neck, moving it to his ear to murmur a quiet, “shh…” before his hands slid down to squeeze his ass before lifting the blond’s leg to get a better angle, rubbing up against him. He heard him groan softly into the kiss, lifting his hips off the bed to push against him harder, murmuring he was done waiting.

How long had he wanted this? He wanted him. Bad. First it was just a kiss, why not? He had never had someone push him away before, it was usually him that pushed people away. The more he looked at him, at Daichi’s garage, at school, climbing out of his window, dancing at the races, the more he wanted him. He wanted to know him, to have him. And now he was under him, willing and using his clever skilled fingers to coax pleasure out of him as he moved faster and harder into him, continuing to silence each other’s moans in the dark.

It was either late, or early, depending on whichever the time was looked at. It was still dark, but parts of the sky were beginning to turn colors. Deidara’s breathing had finally returned to normal, his heartrate slowed as he drifted in and out of a doze in the warm contentment sex gave. He could feel Itachi’s body, slightly away from him on the bed, giving him space after the heated closeness they had broken away from. Itachi wasn’t asleep. He could feel him inching closer to him, towards the warmth of his body.

He snorted softly.

“What?” Itachi murmured, finally moving to curl up against Deidara, arms wrapped around his warmth. Perhaps he thought it was okay now that he knew he was awake.

“People always say Uchiha’s are good at everything, un,” Deidara whispered back, deciding to allow Itachi to snuggle into him.

He heard Itachi give a soft chuckle into the pillow next to his head. “You’re not half-bad yourself,” was his reply. Deidara snorted again. He wasn’t sure how they managed to keep quiet, but they weren’t taking their chances now, whispering behind a locked door.

“I had no doubt about that, un,” Deidara told him egotistically. Of course he was good. How could he even pretend to think otherwise? He didn’t just have skills, he had lots of practice.

He felt, rather than heard Itachi chuckling again. Why did he always think the things he said or did was funny? Even when he wasn’t trying to be funny, Itachi found something to chuckle about. Deidara had never heard Itachi give a real, full laugh before. Maybe he was just different and alienated from the Uchiha for him to comprehend him so he kept chuckling as a natural reaction. Damn, he was starting to overthink things like Itachi did. That wasn’t a good sign.

In the silence, Itachi’s fingers slid through Deidara’s hair with absentminded ease. Deidara closed his eyes again, enjoying the feeling. “You’re a natural blond, aren’t you?” Itachi asked, voice tickling Deidara’s ear as his head resting in the curve of his neck.

“No one ever believes me, un,” Deidara replied. He had to go soon. The sky was turning more colors, the menace that slept down the hall would be awakening soon. Not that he particularly cared, but it would be a hassle if Uchiha decided to check that his son came home the night before. He had a feeling Uchiha’s willpower to keep his wife naïve might crumble if he found his eldest son naked in bed with his least favorite person in the world. He'd been mad about a kiss before. Clear signs of sex would probably be worse. That idea helped him pull himself out of the dozing haze. “I should get going, un.”

The rumble in Itachi’s throat vibrated softly against his shoulder. “Five more minutes,” he mumbled. “You’re so warm. I’m fucking cold.”

“Put some clothes on then,” Deidara said. “It’s not that cold, un.”

Sitting up, Deidara pulled out of Itachi’s arms and slid out from under the covers. A quick search around in the dark, he found his clothes scattered haphazardly throughout Itachi’s room. As he dressed, he heard Itachi complaining softly, sounding sleepy. He almost went over to playfully entice the brunette as he sat up to wrap the comforter around himself, but he stopped himself. He didn’t need to make Itachi soppy with desire to throw more money at him. Itachi hadn’t thrown money at him. How long had it been since he had sex with nothing in return?

“What are you doing tomorrow—I mean, today?” Itachi asked him, shaking him from his thoughts.

Gathering his shoes, Deidara sat down on the bed, pulling them on. “I don’t know, un,” he replied. “Go to the park, take a nap. Nothing planned, un.” He didn’t understand why he was asking him that. What did it matter what he was doing? He got what he wanted.

He was startled slightly in surprise when a pair of arms wrapped around his waist, dragging him across the bed onto Itachi’s lap. “Then,” Itachi said slowly, as if worried he’d turn him down, “would you like to…go driving with me? Up the mountain? We can get lunch and eat up there and take a nap.” Itachi spoke with his mouth close to his ear, murmuring like a well-trained lover. It made Deidara shiver. Had Itachi’s voice always been so deep and inviting?

“That…that sounds awfully like a date,” he said, turning his head in confusion to see Itachi give a soft shrug. He almost laughed. Did Itachi know he never went passed a first date. Maybe a second date, if you were severely lucky, but Deidara got sick of people a lot faster than they got sick of him.

“If you want to call it that,” Itachi said, leaning forward to kiss him softly. Deidara gave a soft noise in response, giving him a small kiss in return. “Come back around eleven. Father has a meeting, mom is going to visit relatives, Sasuke’s at a friend’s house. Everyone will be gone.”

Deidara turned in his lap to look at him, trying not to let his confusion show on his face. “Sure,” he finally replied softly, giving a half grin then slid off the bed to finish tying his shoes and pull on his hoodie and jacket. He climbed out the window, hesitating on the roof to look back, but across the room, the hallway light turned on and a shadow passed by on its way to the stairs. He pointed at the door and Itachi looked, quickly lying down and pulling the comforter over himself. Deidara watched him a moment longer until he heard the house phone ring somewhere downstairs. He grinned at Itachi’s form then closed the window and jumped out to climb into the tree and down to hurry off down the sidewalk.

Deciding it was useless to go home, only to come back a few minutes later, Deidara hung around the neighborhood. If they were going for a drive, he couldn’t come back and then leave his bike here for Uchiha to find. Instead, he spent the morning in a coffee shop nearby, eating breakfast and reading the newspaper out of boredom. He finished the crossword puzzle and the other games, cut out the comics he liked when the barista wasn’t looking, and had six coffees before it was time to go. Thank god. Coffee in this area of town was expensive as hell. He didn’t know why he was doing it, but he was all smiles as he walked back up the street to the Uchiha’s driveway. There weren’t any cars except Itachi’s parked there. What was he doing? He had no idea why he decided to have sex with him last night, because he hadn’t really wanted to before. Maybe it was the high of his victory making him generous. Perhaps he did it because Itachi was very different from everyone else in his life. Maybe he was just being hopeful that Itachi wouldn’t throw him away, and here his hopes were being rewarded. Itachi wanted to spend time with him.

He stopped short as he reached the door. Wait, did this mean Itachi wanted to go out with him? He frowned. Ugh, he’d have to let Itachi down lightly. Sex was pretty fun, but he didn’t date. Maybe he would still have sex with him if he let him down lightly.

Shrugging, Deidara tried the door, finding it locked, but that didn’t bother him as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his lockpick. The door opened quickly in his fingers and he went inside. “Itachi?” he called into the empty foyer and living room. When he didn’t get a response, he ventured further into the house. The kitchen had three plates drying on the rack with their forks and knives, alone with two mugs and a glass. Three people had eaten breakfast. He opened the fridge and pulled out a few items left in containers, taste testing them before closing the door and heading up the stairs.

“Itachi~” he called up the stairs as he took them two at a time. Itachi was still sleeping. Poor baby. He wasn’t used to staying up all night like a real adult. He was probably out like a light the second he left. “Hey! Wake up sleepyhead,” he called as he reached the door. It was unlocked now, so he assumed Itachi hadn’t gone right to sleep then, but it was still funny to him that the Uchiha couldn’t stay up. “Itachi! Jeez, wake up—”

He froze at the door, eyes wide when he saw the unoccupied bed, but occupied floor. The scene before him would have looked natural, except Itachi wasn’t near the bed with the covers dragged over him as if he had rolled out of bed. The room was a disaster, books and paper thrown off the desks and end table, the desk chair was on its side, broken leg dangling pathetically from where it hung by a few fragments of wood. It took a few moments of staring before a few choice words flew out of Deidara’s mouth and he was hurrying over to the still body on the floor next to the desk.

“Shit! Shit, Itachi?! Are you okay?” the words sounded stupid before they even came out, but he couldn’t stop them. Obviously he wasn’t okay. Gently, he turned him over onto his back, hissing softly when he saw the shape he was in. Blood on his forehead had dried onto the carpeted floor, but the blond hadn’t noticed until he had peeled him off the floor. His face was puffy and red, the rest of him damaged looking as well. He hadn’t been able to get dressed before his attacker struck.

“Nnn…cold…Dei..dara?” came the quiet mumble. His eye cracked open, barely a slit. “Dei?”

Deidara jumped in surprise, thinking the other was unconscious. His mumble able about cold brought Deidara’s attention to how chilly he was to the touch. The window was open, letting the freezing December air seep innocently into the room. “It’s me,” Deidara assured him. He pushed his bangs off his face, revealing a gash on his forehead. “What happened, Itachi?”

It took several tries for Itachi to get the words out, but when he did, he was only able to say, “…saw…us…” before he fell silent. Deidara bit his lip to force his anger down, but he still stood up and stormed angrily around the room. His father. That fucking asshole. “Fucking Uchiha!” he shouted, slamming Itachi’s lamp against the wall in his rage. He breathed heavily for a moment before he looked back at Itachi. Now wasn’t the time to be angry; Itachi didn’t look like he was breathing. With that thought, he hurried over to check. He was breathing, but very shallow. He had to get him to…somewhere. He had no idea what to do.

Turning, Deidara frantically dug through his dresser and walk in closet to find clothes for him. Something warm. Something warm. After making a huge mess, he came out with a pair of thick athletic sweatpants, a t-shirt, a hoodie, and Itachi’s coat from the night before. Deidara had never dressed someone before. It was a lot more awkward than he had thought it would be. He tried to be as gentle as he could, but his actions still got soft whimpers of pain from Itachi. His arm felt weird as he slid it into the sleeves of the shirt and coat. Deidara winced. It felt broken.

“I… I’m taking you to Daichi’s, un,” he told him, though he wasn’t sure he could hear him. Carefully sitting Itachi up, he pulled him onto his back so he could carry him down the steps to the first floor. Itachi was quite taller than him, which made it difficult, but Deidara managed to get them outside and Itachi into the passenger seat of his Mazda. He had to run back into the house to dig through his clothes for his keys as he pulled his cellphone out, dialing the familiar number quickly.

“Hello?”

“Daichi, it’s me, un,” Deidara said, tossing away pieces of clothing in frustration. Where were the damn keys? “I need some help.” There was silence on the other end. “It’s Itachi,” Deidara continued, finally finding the pants Itachi had been wearing yesterday, keys in the pocket. “He’s hurt, real bad, but I dunno how bad. I can’t take him to the hospital, un.” Daichi was listening now, then agreed with him – he’ll call in a favor.

Deidara rushed downstairs and was in the car before he hung up. Some part of him felt a little bitter that Daichi was willing to help Itachi, but never him. The rest of him was angry. So angry at Uchiha with no one to direct his anger towards. He felt like a bomb about to go off, but he had to get Itachi to safety. He was terrified, something he wasn’t used to feeling. What had happened was clear as if Uchiha had left him a note for him to find. Why? Why had he done this to Itachi? What reason could he have? Have ever had? He had left his son barely conscious, bleeding and naked on the floor. He had opened the window – Deidara was sure he had closed it behind him. Was he trying to kill his son? Without his own finger prints on the scene? Continuous glances towards his unconscious passenger were made when he had enough time to take his eyes off the road. He hated driving cars. They felt so constricting.

When he arrived at the garage, Daichi and a few others were waiting outside. None commented on Deidara’s horrible parking job as they opened the passenger door, carefully lifting Itachi out of the car to carry him to a prepared table with several blankets and cushions. Rin was there as well, bringing over a first aid kit and pulling things out. They all ignored Deidara’s mumble that he didn’t think any of that would be much help.

He was ordered to stand out of the way as Daichi and the others cleaned Itachi’s face of dried blood. Deidara protested, wanting to help, but Daichi pushed him away. He tried to argue with Daichi, but the mechanic shouted at him to get out of the way. One of the men who had helped carry Itachi in picked the blond up, shamelessly kicking and cursing, up to the second floor lounge. He could watch, but that was all. His hands clenched the railings bars so tightly his knuckles were white, anger boiling away inside him. Daichi’s friend came in not long after. Deidara hadn’t seen Toshi in a few years, he’d never been one of his favorite people. Certainly not his favorite doctor, even though he was good.

Daichi and Toshi had been friends in high school. Both liked cars, but only Daichi continued on after graduation to study mechanics and learn all he could about cars. Toshi had gone on to study medicine, though he came back whenever he could to go racing with Daichi in the streets. It had been the two of them that started the street racing in the city it had grown into today. Tattooless and without any piercings, Toshi looked like he belonged in an office not behind the wheel of a car. Certainly not racing down the streets of the city against Daichi, but then again, Deidara had never seen him behind the wheel of a car.

He could only hear half of what they were saying as they worked on Itachi. They cut the clothes he had put him in off, tending to the damage done on the rest of him. Deidara couldn’t see well what else was wrong with him, but he felt he should mention to them that Itachi was cold and he should probably keep his clothes on. He was so angry. Itachi wasn’t important to him, but he enjoyed him. He enjoyed his company and had been looking forward to spending the day with him. This was not what he had in mind. He saw Rin look up at him, seeing his anger. She’d talk to Daichi later. Probably.

“Who is this?” Toshi was saying as he examined Itachi’s arm. Broken. He motioned Daichi over to help him set the bone back into place manually. Several people winced at the sound. Itachi was still unconscious.

“Deidara’s new infatuation,” one of the workers said as he helped hold Itachi down in case he moved or woke up, managing to crack a smile. It disappeared when a can of soda came down on his head, but Deidara’s angry shots were silenced instantly.

“Deidara!” Daichi snapped, whirling around to face him. His calm mask had melted away, showing a face Deidara hadn’t seen in years. “Stay there and shut the hell up!”

Deidara obediently crouched down, forehead pressed against the rails with his mouth obediently clamped shut. Rin placed her hand on Daichi’s shoulder, whispering gently that Deidara was just scared for Itachi. She touched his cheek and he slowly let his mask slide back into place. He didn’t turn to apologize to Deidara because he meant what he said, uncaring to the blond feeling more and more helpless as he watched them trying to help Itachi.


	12. Chapter 12

When Itachi opened his eyes, all he could see was a ceiling that was much closer than it should have been. It took several blinks of his eyes to focus enough to see that it was made of wood and wasn’t a ceiling at all, but the bottom of a bunk bed. An ache behind his eyes stopped him from moving them around until he was able to make some sense of what was going on. Where was he? What was wrong with his eyes? He could barely focus on anything. What happened? The last thing he remembered was Deidara’s charming, mischievous grin when he agreed to go driving with him. Wait…

“Shit!” he cried, sitting up hurriedly. He was about to go into a small version of a panic mode to get himself in gear to get out of bed as quickly as possible; he had overslept! Deidara was going to be pissed. Suddenly, he was forced to fall back to the pillow with a sharp cry as his entire body seized up in pain. His head swam, his chest clenched, his arm throbbed, his fingers ached, his stomach clenched. Every part of his body just hurt. The movement had knocked an ice bag off his face that fell onto the bed next to him.

After several minutes of trying to force his breath into a calm, even pace to keep the pain away, Itachi was able to partially relax again, his eyes slowly turning to try focusing on his surroundings. It was the bunk room in Daichi’s shop where everyone slept. He was in one of the first row bunks that were positioned sideways against the wall instead of like the capsule beds above him. But how did he get here? Despite the fact that it hurt to think very hard, he tried to remember. It came back to him in a sudden flood of pain that he tried to block out once it started.

“Well, well, Sleeping Beauty’s woken up without a kiss. Guess the legend’s wrong.”

“Daichi…” his voice was cracked and parched from lack of use. He started to push himself up, but the painful throbbing started again, so he lowered himself down again.

“Easy now,” Daichi murmured, holding his hands out as though to force him to do it psychically. “You’ve been out for a whole day and some, how do you feel?”

“Fantastic,” Itachi grumbled sarcastically. Daichi’s voice was bouncing in his head, but he was determined to sort out the confusion he had. “How did I get here?”

Silently dragging a chair over to sit on, Daichi replied, “Deidara brought you in yesterday morning.” He placed a piece of candy in his mouth, crumpling the wrapper to toss in the trashcan by the door.

“Where is he?” Itachi asked. He knew it was Fugaku’s fault and not his, but knew Deidara must have found him when he returned like they’d planned.

“Sleeping on the bed next to you. He was supposed to be on watch duty to be here when you woke up. Sleeping on the job’s liable to get him fired, what do you think?” Daichi said with a grin, speaking low as though he knew Itachi’s head hurt.

Itachi tried to smile back, but only managed a weak half grin. Very slowly, he turned his head to the side to look towards the wall. Sure enough, Deidara was there, sitting next to his pillow with his knees drawn to his chest. His arms were wrapped around them to create a rest for his head. His face was covered from Daichi’s view, but from Itachi’s, looking up at him, he could see Deidara’s face peaceful, more relaxed than Itachi had ever seen him. “He was coming to meet me…” he whispered quietly, feeling a fondness for the blond growing.

“Good thing, too. You lost a lot of blood, you were almost hypothermic,” Daichi told him, a thoughtful expression on his face when Itachi turned back to look at him again. “Uchiha did it, didn’t he? This has happened before.” Itachi nodded, swallowing a little. “And you haven’t told anyone?”

“My mom’s happy,” was all Itachi could say. He turned to look at Deidara instead because he didn’t want to see any accusation in Daichi’s face.

“So for her to be happy, you must be punished?” Daichi asked. Though his words were accusing, his tone was soft and patient. Seeking to understand, not berate. He still didn’t look at him. He wanted to find some way to explain himself to Daichi, but every time he thought of something he could say, it sounded even more pathetic. He knew he had very little excuses. It was just how it was. When he didn’t answer, Daichi didn’t push. He was grateful.

“How bad am I?” he asked, staring up at Deidara. He had never seen the blond sit still long enough to study him.

He felt Daichi’s hand lightly touch his arm than his fore head. For the first time he could feel bandages against his skin. “Your arm is broken,” Itachi closed his eyes, remembering that against his will, “your finger’s broke too, wrist dislocated,” he squeezed them tighter, remembering trying to protect his exposed body from his father’s kicks – he had put two and two together and guess what he’d been doing with Deidara, “you have a big cut on your forehead,” his father had smashed him into the desk, “Minor concussion, but you’re talking clearly, so I assume it’s nothing serious, though we’re instructed to monitor you carefully. Your face got pretty bad beat up, too,” his father grabbing handfuls of hair to hold him, punching him over and over… “you’ve got a lot of other bruises too, but they don’t seem serious.” He heard the chair creak as Daichi lean forward, closer to him. “Hey, Deidara brought you here in your car, but don’t tell him what happened, not in detail anyway. I stuck him in here with you because if he was, he’s less likely to go after Uchiha. I’d hate to see what would happen to the city if he got loose.”

“He shouldn’t. He’ll get in a lot of trouble… I’m not worth that.”

“He’s easily angered,” Daichi told him, sounding amused. Itachi turned to look at him now, seeing him staring at the blond, smiling at some memory Itachi didn’t know.

“What is it?” Itachi asked quietly.

“Ah, nothing,” Daichi said, waving his hand a little.

“I want to know.”

Daichi glanced down at the floor, smiling again at the memory. “Did you know I use to hate blue hair?” he said with a chuckle, gesturing to his own very blue hair. “I had red and black for years – years. I was known for it, you know? When Dei was a kid, we used to argue all the fucking time. Do you know how hard it is to argue with a punk ass kid who listens to no one? Anyway, one night I got so pissed, I locked him in my trunk for like a day – don’t worry there was snacks and other shit. And when he finally escaped, he snuck me a bunch of sleeping pills and while I was out, he bleached and dyed my hair blue, and then also drove my car – this was middle of winter – over a frozen lake and set a bunch of fireworks off under it and I had to watch my beautiful silver vintage Skyline GTR sink into that lake while this eleven year old punk stood there daring me to do something about it.” He laughed again, shaking his head. “I was so impressed at the nerve on that kid, I couldn’t even get mad about my car and I’ve kept my hair blue ever since.”

Itachi laughed even though it hurt his face, which he could now feel was swollen and painful. Daichi reached over and placed the icepack back on his face.

“Yeah,” Daichi said, grinning at him. “He’s a trip. But, even though we piss each other off, we’re still kinda friends…Imagine what he would do if he went after Uchiha, who he hates.”

Itachi’s smile dropped. “Why would he do that for me?”

“Didn’t we tell you? He likes you,” Daichi said, popping another candy into his mouth. “So… what were you two planning on doing yesterday? You two snuck off pretty fast that night.”

“Uh…we were going to go up the mountain, eat lunch, take a nap,” Itachi replied.

Daichi gave a soft chuckle, catching his attention. “Wow, you must have had his head spinning like a top,” he said.

“Why?” he asked, glancing back over at Deidara.

“I don’t think anyone’s ever done that before,” he gave a half shrug, “not after they got what they wanted from him. He expects it now, doesn’t let anyone get too close.” He looked at the blond as well, sleeping on with no knowledge that he was being talked about. “He’s had a tough life, that one. Rest up, get better soon. I’m sure he’ll take you up on it again.”

The next couple of weeks were very dull for Itachi. Daichi’s doctor friend would come in and look at him, bringing him medication to help with the pain. He was unable to accurately use either of his arms, his father hadn’t done him the luxury of hurting only one arm this time. He couldn’t go to school if he was going to relax, and Deidara insisted that if he did, his parents would just drag him back home if he went. He didn’t have his phone on him, so he couldn’t call his mother to at least let her know he was alive. She was probably ripping her hair out with worry, but Deidara talked him into understanding that it was better for him to stay here until he healed. He at least had his school books that had been in his trunk after the race, studying because lying in bed he had very little to do, his car safely hidden away among Daichi’s other cars. He watched the lives of the people in Daichi’s garage, those that only worked there, those that lived there. 

Sometimes at night he’d wake up to others coming home from a night out, sometimes he’d see Deidara crawling back from his night out, spending too long in the shower, scrubbing his skin raw. Sometimes Itachi would call softly to him as he passed, inviting him to sleep with him, sometimes the blond accepted. Itachi suspected he was too sore to climb up to his bunk, crawling to pass out next to him, letting Itachi use him for extra warmth. There were times when he didn’t see the blond for days, times when he stayed in the bunk without talking to anyone. Once he crawled into his bunk at night without being invited, smelling of alcohol and acting a little strange. Itachi had been secretly worried he hadn’t been able to protect the family jewels from his father, but the blond proved he had. He tried to stop him as the blond straddled his hips, whispering he was drunk, but the blond whispered back to let him fuck who he wanted to for a change. The next day, Deidara had slept nearly the whole day, waking later and not getting out of bed. Instead, he kept him company, telling him stories and talking about school. The police were looking for him, suspecting a break in. Fugaku had tried to pin it on Deidara a few days before, but the blond had receipts and camera footage putting him in the café all morning, so they’d let him go after being held a night.

“I hate jail,” Deidara whispered in his ear. The sun had set again, the blond still made no motion that he wanted to get up.

“Why?” Itachi asked. He didn’t know how many days had passed since he arrived, but knew his face felt infinitely better than it had before. He turned to press his cheek against the blond’s forehead, the smaller teenager was being extra snuggly, but kept pushing his hand away when he tried to wrap his arm around him, insisting that he didn’t want to be touched.

“Cages,” the blond whispered. “I hate cages…I just want to be free, un.”

“Do you need help with school again?” he asked.

“I don’t want to go to school, un.”

“You have to Deidara,” Itachi whispered. “You’re so smart, you can beat them.”

“Shut up and let me sleep, un.”

Without his phone Itachi had no sense of time. He didn’t know what day of the week it was and felt stupid to ask. He at least knew that he had been here for three weeks. Once a week Daichi got a new shipment in of car parts and it had come three times since he’d been aware enough to notice things around him. One day he awoke and decided he was well enough to move around. The sun was streaming through the windows and the door. He listened for other signs of life, but the garage sounded empty. No, that was impossible. Daichi never left the garage completely empty. He couldn’t tell if it was for security reasons or to babysit himself. Either way, Itachi was certain he wasn’t alone, so he decided to get up for a drink. He hadn’t been up except to go to the bathroom in weeks. Parts of him still hurt a lot, part of him was worried he’d leave to go home if he walked around too much.

From the light of the open garage door, Itachi assumed it was afternoon, but didn’t know what day. It was freezing in the main floor because of it. Itachi had to turn back to retrieve the hoodie and sneakers Deidara had brought him from a thrift store along with other new clothes. Stopping first in the kitchen, he got himself a glass of water to drink and left it in the sink to wash later. His whole body was sore, his arm aching. He probably would have been better faster if he had gone to a hospital, but they did the best they could. His head still swam a little as he walked, using the wall to steady himself.

As he suspected the garage wasn’t completely empty, but the shop seemed dead with only one other person in it. Deidara was leaning over the hood of a car, reaching inside as he worked. His cargo pants seemed held up by the hoodie tied around his waist, a black t-shirt all he wore on his torso. Itachi almost winced at that. Didn’t he feel the ungodly cold air that was blowing in through the open door? There was even snow outside! He was wearing a t-shirt.

Grumbling about idiots to himself, Itachi went over to him, his presence unnoticed because of the headphones covering the blond’s ears. The way he was leaning over the car made Itachi contemplate giving his butt a good swat, but he changed his mind and gave his pony tail a gentle tug. “Hey,” he greeted when Deidara whipped around to see who snuck up on him.

“You should be in bed, un,” Deidara accused, taking his headphones off and pointing the three-sixteen he’d been using at him.

Itachi frowned, folding his arms as best he could with his makeshift cast. “I’ve been in bed for weeks,” he complained to justify himself. “Where is everyone?”

“Getting lunch,” Deidara replied, going over to drag the sofa from against the wall for Itachi to sit on. Itachi gratefully sat and the blond sat down next to him, wiping his hands on a cloth. “You were napping, so they’re probably guessing.”

“It’s fine,” Itachi said with a shrug. If Daichi was with them, he was safe. The mechanic hadn’t gotten it wrong yet. “What day is it?”

“Wednesday.” Deidara was watching him like he often did instead of asking if he was okay. He was about to tell him he was fine and to stop staring at him, when a knock sounded at the customer entrance to the shop, a woman’s voice following it.

“In here!” Deidara called, then whispered, “head down,” to Itachi as he stood up, the brunette obediently pulling his hood over his head and slouching to imitate the less ridged posture some of the other workers had. “Can I help—oh it’s you, un,” he said, his voice dropping its semi-friendly tone. Itachi glanced over at the woman peeking through his bangs at her. She seemed a little familiar with her hair pulled back into a smart bun. She was dressed nicely, wrapped up in a winter coat and carrying one of those briefcase bags his teachers sometimes carried.

“Yes, Deidara, it’s me,” she said, walking over to the sofa. “You weren’t in class today.”

She was a teacher than, one of Deidara’s.

“What are you doing here?” Deidara asked, a suspicious expression on his face. “How did you find me?”

“I looked up your address in your file and the lovely woman, Mrs. Mura, there told me you were most likely here, working,” she replied, folding her arms. “I didn’t know you had a job, Deidara. Aren’t you worried it will get in the way of school?” Itachi didn’t think anyone knew about Deidara’s attachment to this place, wondering who Mrs. Mura was. If anyone did, he suspected that the police force would have been here long ago to clean the place out. He wasn’t even sure if the place was listed as Daichi’s.

“Rin told you I was here?” he asked, sounding more suspicious. Itachi blinked, but still kept his head down. Now that he thought about it, he had ever heard Daichi’s or Rin’s last name. Daichi Mura.

“I explained I was your teacher and bringing you your make up work,” she said, walking around to drop a pile of papers onto the sofa. “Winter break starts this Friday, so you’ll have plenty of time to do it all. The quarter ends just a week after break. I don’t want to fail you. Your history teacher told me about your probation.”

“Are you, like, not allowed to look at juvenile records or something?” Deidara demanded rhetorically, throwing his hands up. “I don’t care about school.”

“You should,” she said, shaking her head. “You were doing so well.” She waited for Deidara to say something, but he was busy organizing the tools he had been using. Sighing heavily, she took a few steps towards the door but stopped. “There is a project in my class, Deidara. Everyone’s to write a newspaper article on anything they want. The local city paper is going to review them and pick one to publish publicly. I was really looking forward to reading yours.”

Deidara turned to frown at her. “Why?” he asked.

“Because you have a different life and view of the world than nearly all the students in my classes. It would be nice to read,” she explained.

Deidara continued to look at her a moment before turning away. “You shouldn’t be in this part of the garage. My boss doesn’t like people in here and it’s dangerous, un,” he said, keeping his back to her. The woman apologized, giving the blond a meaningful look then turned and left, shutting the door quietly behind her. She hadn’t noticed Itachi at all. Deidara scoffed and picked up the papers, going over to drop the pile into the nearest trashcan. “Different worldview my ass, un,” he grumbled.

“She’s right though,” Itachi offered with a shrug. When Deidara turned his glare on him, he rolled his eyes and explained himself. “You think anyone else in that school lives like you? I feel like I’m in another country whenever I’m around you. You could write about…stupid rich kids, assholes who like underage prostitutes, police brutality…anything.”

He watched the blond stare at him, eyes narrowing in thought. Itachi wondered if he was taking his suggestion into consideration or trying to find something to argue against. Even Deidara couldn’t deny his life was interesting. “Whatever,” he finally said, picking up his tool to continue working.

Unfortunately for Deidara, Daichi found the papers he had tried to throw away and, after an argument, blackmailed him into doing it all. Itachi didn’t catch the whole thing, but it sounded like he was going to take his bike apart or something. Deidara growled that it was his bike and Daichi couldn’t touch it, but the blue haired man smugly reminded Deidara that he had gotten all the modifications from Daichi, and would be extremely happy to sell them. Itachi wasn’t complaining, because of the classes he had apparently been skipping and work he hadn’t been turning in, Deidara needed his help again which meant he finally had something to do. The blond made it quite obvious how much he hated school work, but, as Itachi kept pointing out, he had absolutely no problem with math or science. Anything that seemed to involve puzzle work, Deidara seemed exceptional at. He was able to solve nearly every math problem in his head, could do physics puzzles easily, and could comprehend chemistry solutions after seeing them only once. He just complained about doing the work. Itachi felt a twinge of regret for the blond whose genius seemed to be going to waste. All Itachi could do was keep being surprised at his successes – which stroked Deidara’s ego.

More weeks passed. Time seemed to flow differently in the garage than the outside world that Itachi felt distanced from. Winter break had started for the students, but few stayed in the garage. It was snowing outside and they stayed out to play in it, or stalked off with shovels to scrape some extra money for themselves. Itachi continued to stay inside. Sometimes he wished he could go to the apartment with Deidara, just to go somewhere, but knew it could put everyone in danger if he was seen or followed. It was also too cold. He appreciated the extra clothes he had; the others had gone out together and brought him back clothes that he paid them back for. It was still just too cold.

Christmas came and he was able to leave the garage for the first time, going to Daichi and Rin’s place over a coffee shop to celebrate Christmas Eve. The apartment had two bedrooms down a hallway, but the rest was open and full of shelves of vinyl, CDs, DVDs and magazines. The wall contained many framed paintings which made the whole place colorful and warm. He had helped decorate the living space and Daichi had cooked a huge dinner while Rin made eggnog and drinks. A few others were there with their spouses and partners, and Deidara arrived just before midnight from another party he had been to. Christmas at home was not eventful. Fugaku had always thought it was a stupid foreign holiday, but permitted a small tree and presents to be exchanged. Here, among friends and coworkers, warmed by the liquor in the eggnog and a full belly, Itachi felt happier than he had his whole life. There were no presents, just lots of food and games and laughter. Deidara even initiated a kiss by pushing him under a twig of mistletoe someone had hung over the door when he joined him on the balcony while the blond smoked a cigarette. Then there was New Years. Like Christmas, it was different, but just as fun. He didn’t enjoy being forced to go outside in the cold, but soon forgot about it as they ice skated on a pond that had frozen over. None of them had ice skates, so it made the whole thing both terrifying and hilarious. Itachi played with a few of the garage workers children at the park while there was a ferocious soccer game – his arm preventing him from participating, and then at midnight they set off fireworks – Deidara claimed to have made them, but Itachi wasn’t sure if he could believe him until the others all backed the blond up that he had. He watched them get drunk and dance around the streets among other partiers, following them around to several parties until they finally stumbled home, exhausted, around six in the morning.

January passed. Then February. Itachi found himself sinking comfortably into the flow of his new life, doing office work for Daichi since he couldn’t work properly with his make shift casts, then doing school work with Deidara when the blond decided to show up, which was nearly every day now. A few others had asked for his help as well, paying him in lunches and dinners, or sometimes new clothes because he felt awkward taking their money of which they had so little.

“Hey, Deidara,” he called over the noise of the shower. “Did you ever write that article?” He closed his eyes as he sat down on the porcelain floor. The hot water ran over his body, warming him wonderfully. Though the city plowmen had the streets under control, there were still a few feet of snow that melted a little during the day only to rise up another several inches over the night. Daichi’s doctor friend had come and taken his cast off. The bones were set and healed, but he wanted him to be careful for another month or so and to go to a clinic to check on it when he was able. Itachi was ecstatic to be able to shower without holding his arm out of the stream.

“Yep,” echoed Deidara’s voice from the stall next to his. It sounded like he was washing his hair, though how he washed all that hair was beyond him. Itachi’s hair was long, but nowhere near as thick as Deidara’s was. “I turned it in before winter break, un.”

“Really? When?” he asked, poking his head out of his stall. That was a while ago, but he couldn’t remember Deidara ever mentioning it.

“Day before break,” he replied, sticking his head out as well, a smug expression on his face as if he had done something clever.

“What’d you write about?” Itachi inquired, frowning a little. He had expected Deidara to show him the piece for him to edit it. He had wanted to read it himself.

The grin became even smugger. “Something no one’s ever read before, un,” was the reply.

Itachi rolled his eyes and pulled his head back into his own stall, picking up the soap and began scrubbing himself. Even though Daichi kept the garage clean for a body shop, it was impossible not to accumulate a few layers of dirt and grime from working there without a good scrub. “I wanted to read it,” Itachi told him, using a brush to get under his nails.

“My teacher said they’re all going to be printed in the school’s literary arts magazine at the end of the year, even if only one’s going to get picked for the paper to print, un. You’ll see it then.”

“Maybe I’ll see it in the paper when it gets published,” Itachi said with a grin, standing to rinse himself off. He turned to let the hot water beat against his back, rolling his shoulders a little to work out the kinks. He needed a massage or something.

Deidara was silent for a while, the sounds from the stall indicating he was rinsing out his hair. He finally gave a soft bark of a laugh so devious that it made his hair stand on end for a moment. “Wouldn’t that be something,” he whispered, only just audible.

Itachi frowned, turning the shower off and reached out to take his towel off the rack to dry himself off. “Did you do something?” he asked thoughtfully, standing outside Deidara’s stall. “What did you write about..?”

“You’ll see,” Deidara’s smirk was audible in his voice.

“But why—”

“Hey guys!” someone cried, bursting into the bathroom door, causing Itachi to jump and wrap his towel around his waist quickly. One of them threw back the curtain to Deidara’s shower and dragged the shouting blond out of it.

“What the hell are you doing?! Get off of me!” Deidara protested, his voice echoing loudly in the tiled room.

“Seriously! You gotta come see this!”

“Get the hell off me! I’m not going anywhere buckass naked, un!” Itachi tried not to be amused as the man tried to hang on to the squirming, naked blond to drag him towards the door. “Let me go!”

“I think you could pull it off,” Itachi commented, then ducked as the bar of soap that Deidara had still been holding was chucked at him with a rather loud ‘fuck you’. “Knock it off guys,” he said, tugging Deidara out of their grasp so he could get his own towel.

Despite his anger, Deidara didn’t take long to come back out, towel wrapped around his hair and another around his waist. “Alright, what?” he demanded, folding his arms.

“It’s all over the news!” they said, pointing at the bathroom door. “Uchiha – your father,” they added to Itachi, “is getting arrested!”


	13. Chapter 13

Itachi stared at the television on the second floor break room, taking in every word spoken by the news casters who had been discussing this ‘stirring topic’ for hours. Arrested. He thought he was dreaming, but no matter how many times he pinched himself, the headlines still read ‘SCHOOL ARTICLE RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT POLICE AGGRESSION’, ‘UCHIHA, POWER ABUSER?’, ‘HEAD OF POLICE: ARRESTED!’, ‘UCHIHA’S ELDEST SON STILL MISSING! FATHER NOW PRIME SUSPECT!’ The article was being printed all over the local, and a few national papers, spread online and discussed about on the TV. The reporter on the screen was reading a few lines from the article. It talked about police brutality to children on the streets, abusing their power on and off the streets, while keeping a kind and caring face to the public. Itachi finally got to read Deidara’s article, and he could see why the blond hadn’t let him read it first. The blond even had interviewed people, gathered statistics and names of every officer on the force who went out of their way to skirt the justice system to take their aggression out on people who couldn’t speak out against them. His father, top of the list. Would he have let him turn that in if he had read it first?

Daichi sat down next to him, silently handing him a bottle of water as they watched the reporter come onto the screen again, once again discussing the article. “Though written as a contest at a local city high school, this anonymous teenager has brought a new look at the police force and cast a dark shadow on the once looked up to head of police,” he was saying. He went on to explain how the teacher who had arranged the assignment had brought the article to the attention of officials, horrified by its contents, investigators had looked into the article and discovered it all to be true, interviewing common adults and teenagers on the streets, to family members. “Though doubts were beginning to rise, a startling confirmation of the accusations against Head of Police, Uchiha Fugaku, came from the Uchiha’s own son. Uchiha Sasuke, a freshman at the same high school as the article, told investigators it wasn’t uncommon for his father to raise his hand unnecessarily at home.” No one knew where Itachi was and their neighbor across the street was beside herself with horror. She had seen someone, described as a young, blond teenager, sneaking out of Itachi’s bedroom window and called Fugaku, fearing burglary. Blood and signs of a struggle in Itachi’s room seems proof of the worst. Police had arrested a suspect originally – they withheld information because it was a minor, but the boy had a solid alibi and was released. Now many question whether the scene in Itachi’s room was proof of the abuse the Uchiha was accused of and with Itachi’s several month long disappearance, Fugaku was now being heavily questioned on the whereabouts of his eldest son. Though nothing has been reported, authorities are fearing the worse.

“If Uchiha Itachi did manage to escape the house,” the reporter continued, “and is listening to this, your family desperately wants to hear from you.”

Itachi turned off the TV, not wanting to see the clip that had been repeated over and over of his mother and Sasuke looking worried and terrified.

“Deidara’s outdone himself,” Daichi commented to break the silence, sipping his bottle of water.

“How…” Itachi whispered faintly, not taking his eyes off the black screen of the TV.

Daichi patted his shoulder consolingly. “I told you,” he said, earnestly. “I’d hate to see what would happen to the city of he got loose. I’m actually impressed. Nothing is on fire.”

The comment brought a slight twitch to the corners of Itachi’s mouth, but he couldn’t manage a whole smile. “I think Deidara is smarter than you give him credit,” he said quietly. “Nothing’s on fire because he knows it would do nothing.”

“I know he’s a smart kid,” Daichi said defensively. “I’m just impressed by the lengths he’s gone this time. I wouldn’t have even thought of this. Honestly, when he brought you in back in December I thought he’d be in for murder soon. That kid might be lazy as shit, but when he wants to bring someone down, he does it proper.”

Itachi shook his head, running his fingers though his hair. “I can’t believe Deidara would do this and not tell me,” he said quietly. “He…he actually got my father arrested.” The very words seemed unimaginable in the same sentence together. “Why? I mean, I know he hates my father, but still…”

“Itachi, you’re a genius, but sometimes you’re dumb as bricks,” Daichi commented, standing up to stretch and prepare to go back to work. Half his staff was still hung over from their celebrations after seeing the news the night before, so Daichi was working by himself except for one other person. When Itachi stared up at him in confusion, he continued. “Pretty sure this qualifies as a love letter by Deidara’s standards.” He laughed to himself and went back down the stairs leaving Itachi staring after him.

Alone again, Itachi turned to continue to stare at the TV, seeing his mother and brother’s faces on it even though the screen was blank. A horrible sense of guilt was growing strong in his stomach. Standing, he went down into the bunk area, looking at the bunk that had become his and realizing he didn’t want to be in it. The bunk was the location of his abandonment, the place where he slept instead of his own bed at home. This bed had become his new home while his mother and brother thought him dead. Chest tight, he began the climb up to the top row of capsule style beds to the one that belonged to Deidara. Inside, he laid down and stared at the top of the bunk where the blond had taped pictures of motorcycles, stars, and planets cut out of magazines.

It was his first time actually inside Deidara’s bed and he began to look around to distract himself from the confused emotions inside of him. To his right was a few books wedged into the space between the bed and side of bunk, some school books, a few library books…He didn’t know the blond read books. There was a shelf in the back with spare clothes the blond kept here instead of his apartment. None were folded, but Itachi didn’t exactly expect them to be. Taped to both sides of the bunk were lots of pictures. Some were purikura sheets, others Polaroid and developed film. He smiled a little as he looked at the pictures of Deidara with his friends playing games, skateboarding, posing with their cars, out getting drinks. One in particular caught his eye and he laid his head back down on the pillow and smiled at it. There, at eye level, was the purikura sheet he and Deidara had taken together the day after Itachi went to the races for the first time. He remembered the blond trying to get him to pose with him and laughed softly at the one where Deidara had jumped into his arms. Next to it was pictures from Christmas night – a few selfies Deidara had taken of the two of them, a few someone else had. They were taped there where the blond could look at them when he laid down to sleep. A warm feeling spread through his chest.

“What are you doing in my bed, un?”

He jumped and sat up, seeing Deidara peering in at him from the opening. “Sorry,” he replied quietly. “I figured it was a place no one would bother me,” he added, which wasn’t entirely true, but didn’t feel quite like lie. “Did you just get back?”

“Nah, I came back at like 4AM, but went out again in the morning,” the blond replied, climbing the rest of the way into the bunk. “Snowed again. Money to be made, fun to be had, un.” He grinned at Itachi, eyes bright and cheeks red from the cold outside. “Did you see the news? Uchiha’s totally busted, un.”

“Yeah, I saw it,” Itachi said, the guilt returning.

“Wow, try to contain yourself there, wild man,” the blond commented, setting a plastic bag down on the bed and handed him a can of hot coffee from the conbini.

Itachi made a small noise to acknowledge the blond’s sarcasm, but decided to voice his thoughts. “I saw my mom’s face. I can’t decide if she looks upset because her life is now ruined, or because I’m missing.”

The blond gave a short, mocking laugh. “Don’t be stupid,” he said, shaking his head. “You know which one it is, so how about vacating that pity party, un.” Itachi stared at him, knowing it was true, but some part of him still felt immensely guilty. Their family was a mess right now because of him. The blond looked back at him, frowning a little than shrugged. “If you’re upset, why not call her?” he inquired, holding out his own cell phone. When Itachi just stared at the phone, a feeling of terror stopping him from reaching out to take it, the blond raised an eyebrow at him and shrugged. “Fine, I’ll call her.”

“N-no! Wait!” Itachi stammered, grabbing the blond’s arm. “Don’t. She… might…” he trailed off, not really knowing why he was scared.

“She might what?” Deidara demanded, signs of rising irritation turning to anger, but Itachi didn’t know what he was angry about. “Be mad you didn’t call her? Cause you were hiding from your father after he tried to kill you? Reject you? Disown you?”

“Stop,” Itachi demanded, his throat tightening at his words, not understanding the venom in the other’s voice. “Stop, Deidara.” The blond stared at him, then tugged his arm out of Itachi’s grasp to swing his legs over the side and began climbing down, phone in hand as he began to dial. “Deidara!” Itachi shouted in panic, scrambling to follow him. 

“Hi, Mrs. Mikoto? It’s Deidara,” Deidara spoke into his phone, Itachi skidding to a stop next to him, clamping his mouth shut, eyes wide in panic. “I just saw it, yeah… I know, it’s okay…Mhmm. Itachi? Yeah, he’s been staying with me, un,” Deidara’s voice was the same happy tone it always was when he spoke to his mother. There must have been a long silence on the other end because the blond followed up with, “Hello? …He’s here, but he’s in the shower right now,” Deidara said after a moment. “Yeah. Yeah, I’ll tell him, un. Okay. Bye,” he finished, hanging up then slipping his phone back into his pocket. Despite his horror, he was expecting a smug grin from the blond, but instead he received a scathing look. “Don’t look at me like that, un,” the blond snapped, turning to stalk out of the bunks. “She said to say she loves you no matter what and that you came come home whenever you want, un. Of course.”

Confused by his anger, Itachi slowly followed after him as he began making himself a cup of instant ramen. His shoulders were tense and his movements clumsier than normal. Leaning against the table, he watched him angrily fuss over the microwave. When it beeped, Deidara jerked it out and set it down on the table top, cursing when the hot water splashed onto hand. What was wrong? Was he always so clumsy? Well, yes, but not this much. He seemed angry, but he couldn’t imagine what it was over. He snapped his chopsticks apart and began slurping in silence, ignoring the fact that he was burning his tongue with each bite. When he was finished, he kicked the trashcan open to throw the empty cup away.

“Why are you upset?” Itachi finally asked.

“I’m not,” he growled in response.

“Are too,” Itachi countered, stepping in front of him when he tried to walk away. “What’s wrong? Are you upset cause I might leave?”

“No,” Deidara snapped, trying to shove him out of the way. “Who fucking cares, un?”

He frowned down at him. “Seriously, what’s wrong?”

The blond rolled his eyes and went around him, going back to the bunks. Itachi stared after him. He was upset. Was it because he now had his mother’s permission to come back? Was it like before when he was surprised that he invited him to go driving before all this happened? Did he think that he was going to just drop him, ignore him now that he was well enough to leave? The blond’s view of Itachi must be a lot lower than he thought it was or maybe he was like this with everyone. How could he just ignore him after nearly three months together? After spending time together, studying, talking, playing games with others…after so many heated nights shushing each other, bundled under the blankets of Itachi’s bunk. Itachi had never spent this much time with one person before. How could he expect him to just drop him after this?

“Dei!” he called indignantly, hurrying after him.

“Only Daichi calls me that, un!” he heard Deidara snap.

“And half the people here,” Itachi reminded him.

“Not you!”

Rolling his eyes, Itachi grabbed Deidara around the waist to stop him from climbing into the safety of his top bunk, wrestling down onto Itachi’s own bed. Itachi finally sat down on him, panting softly. That had been harder than he expected it to be. “Calm down!” he demanded, hand on the blond’s chest.

“Get off me!”

“Calm down first,” he answered, shaking his head at him.

“Get off of me, Itachi, un!” Deidara shouted.

“I’m not just going to leave you!” Itachi shouted over him, patience with the blond ending. “I don’t know why you’re angry, but I… I’m not going to just go away and ignoring you after all this.” Deidara’s eyes narrowed up at him, but at least he stopped struggling. As he looked back down at him, something told him that his leaving wasn’t the only thing Deidara was angry about, but the blond had decided that he was going to allow Itachi to assume it was because he was leaving. Sometimes Itachi wondered if the blond knew how his thoughts were so readable on his face. What was so bad that he’d rather Itachi assume he would miss him than tell him the truth. Regardless, Itachi wouldn’t press to know. Now that the blond was calm, he leaned down and pressed his forehead against the blonds in an affectionate gesture that caused Deidara’s scowl to disappear in his surprise. “I still owe you a date, don’t I?” Itachi reminded him, smiling. “You’ve got me hooked. There’s no way I could just drop you. Do you really think I would do that?”

“I don’t,” he lied badly, looking away from him.

“Are we interrupting something?” They both turned to see a few people standing in the doorway, smirking down at them.

“No,” they replied in unison, glaring at the onlookers.

A few snickered, clearly thinking they were doing something dirty. Itachi rolled off the blond, but laid down next to him, blocking the blond from the view of the others. Deidara looked up at him, then sighed and sat up. “Get out of here,” he grumbled to the others.

“Hey, Deidara,” Itachi whispered when the others had left, taking their laughter with them. The blond glanced back down at him and begrudgingly laid back down next to him. “I never properly thanked you.” Deidara visibly cringed and sat up again to escape, but Itachi caught him in one arm and yanked him back down. “Nice try,” he chuckled at the blond’s discomfort. “Deidara you saved my life. You protected me from my father and gave me a place to recover.”

“Yeah, okay, no problem,” Deidara rattled awkwardly, trying to get up again, but Itachi stopped him with a grin.

“I don’t care how uncomfortable you feel, I am going to properly thank you,” Itachi crooned, pulling him down. “You did save my life.”

“Just a ‘thanks’ is okay, no need to get weird about it,” Deidara muttered.

Itachi chuckled then gave a soft sigh. “I think I have to go home,” he admitted.

“I figured,” Deidara agreed.

Itachi rolled out of the bunk and glanced back at the bed. He had come to the garage with no possessions, but now he had quite a few stacked neatly at the head of his bunk. Deidara got up as well and walked into the rest of the garage without another word, so Itachi picked up his bag with all his school belongings and used a box that had once contained car parts to gather the new clothes, the books, and memorabilia of the holidays spent with friends and carry it out into the main garage to approach Daichi.

The mechanic rolled out from under the car he was working on when Itachi said his name. “Time to go, huh?” he inquired.

“Thank you for letting me stay here, and…for everything,” Itachi told him. “I can’t repay you.”

“No need,” Daichi said dismissively with a wave of his hand. “You’re still welcome to come race and work if you’d like. I’ll keep you informed.” He watched him for a moment, then said airily, “your arm isn’t completely healed. Hey, Dei! Come give Itachi a ride home.”

He didn’t think there was anything wrong with his arm anymore. From what he knew, it took about three months to heal a broken bone and it had been nearly that long, but maybe Daichi was offering to give them a chance to talk in private again. It was hard to find time when there was always someone in the garage. He glanced over at Deidara to make sure it was alright with him, not wanting to force him. “Sure,” was Deidara’s reply.

“Thanks,” Itachi said to both him and Daichi.

“Do you need an extra layer? You can wear my hoodie,” the blond offered. “It’s pretty cold outside, un.”

“Awww!”

“It’s pretty cold outside~”

“So domestic, Deidara!”

“Listen to mommy, Itachi! Put your coat on!”

“Shut up,” Deidara snapped angrily, throwing his hoodie at Itachi and shoved his way out of the room, blushing spectacularly as the others laughed after him. Daichi just rolled his eyes and rolled back under the car.

“Leave him alone,” Itachi scolded, glaring at them, still laughing. “Seriously.” He pulled Deidara’s oversized hoodie on – it fit him like a normal sized hoodie, and followed Deidara out. “Ah-ah-ah!” he chided, waving a finger at the blond. “You are not driving.”

“But I’m supposed to give you a ride because of the unending agony of your still mending arm,” Deidara countered.

“I’d rather walk all the way than be a passenger in my own car,” Itachi said, placing his hands on Deidara’s shoulders, steering him to the passenger’s side.

“I’ve driven you twice,” the blond reminded him with a smirk.

“Doesn’t count, I was unconscious both times,” Itachi growled, pointedly opening the door for him. Deidara grinned and climbed in to sit. Itachi got into his car and, as the engine purred to life, stroked the dashboard affectionately. He hadn’t driven his baby in quite a long time, too afraid that his father would spot his car and follow him back, betraying the people who had helped him so much. “You shouldn’t let those douches tease you like that.”

“’Douches’?” Deidara laughed, crossing his legs. “I believe you are acquiring my vernacular, un.”

“What?” Itachi laughed. “‘Vernacular’?”

“I read the entire dictionary when I was avoiding biology homework, un,” Deidara said, though Itachi had no idea if he was being serious.

“I still can’t believe you drove my car,” Itachi mumbled, pointing his car into the direction of his house. “Can you actually drive a car?”

“Oh yeah, no problem,” he replied casually.

“You have your license?”

Deidara scoffed. “No,” he replied, rolling his eyes.

“Okay,” Itachi cringed, nonchalantly petting his car apologetically. The image of Deidara’s motorcycle races and driving his car caused a wave of terror to wash over him. What if the police had chased after him and his car? Would he even stop? His worry about the fear his car had felt with a new strange driver was quickly eclipsed by his nervousness as they came closer to his neighborhood. He thought of Deidara’s irritation at him. The blond was certain he was being stupid, that his mother loved him and didn’t care that he didn’t tell her what had been happening to him, didn’t care that he had been missing for months. He had a feeling everyone would be going through a lot of therapy. He also hadn’t been to school in months. Could he even qualify to graduate? Would they kick him out…?

“Itachi,” Deidara’s voice snapped him back to reality and his thoughts. “Do I need to undo your seatbelt, un?” They had pulled into the driveway and he had parked without realizing it. Autopiolot had taken over.

“No,” Itachi stammered, getting out of the car.

The blond leaned on the roof of his car, folding his arms over it. “Do you want me to wait out here?” he asked, looking uncertain.

“No…” he answered, staring at the door. “Do you want to come in?”

“…Sure,” the blond replied, coming around the car. Deidara stared at Itachi, confused by the expression on his face. He was nervous, but he really didn’t have any reason to be. Itachi’s mother was what every mother should be to their children: kind, caring, forgiving, loving. The only downside was that she hadn’t been able to see what was happening to her eldest, buying the lies Uchiha had told her. Sure, he’d been gone a long time without any messages, but now, thanks to him, Mikoto knew why. She’d even said she loved him over the phone. That should count as something not to be nervous about. As they walked up the pathway to the front door together, Deidara reached out to touch Itachi’s hand, silently asking what was wrong. Just as silently, Itachi took his hand and held it tightly. The action confused him even more, but he still gave him an encouraging squeeze as Itachi knocked on the door to his own home.

After a few moments, the door opened. Sasuke’s eyes were wide in shock when he saw his brother, not even noticing Deidara as he flung his arms around Itachi’s neck. Itachi was dragged inside by his brother, Deidara along with him. “Itachi! We were so worried where the hell have you been?” Sasuke cried, clinging to his brother like a child instead of a teenager. Itachi finally let go of Deidara’s hand to grip his brother tightly.

The brotherly reunion was cut short as Mikoto came flying down the stairs after hearing Sasuke’s shout. Pulling her youngest off of him, she hugged her eldest tightly, sobbing against his shoulder as she pulled his head down onto her shoulders, cooing over him like he was still a child. Further into the background Deidara shrank, feeling more and more uncomfortable in the sudden family environment as the Uchiha’s reunited. He watched Itachi’s shoulders finally relax, pressing his face into the comfort of his mother’s neck, whispering how sorry he was to her.

“Why didn’t you tell me baby?” she asked in a gentle whisper, rubbing his back as she stroked his hair, kissing him affectionately. “Why?”

“I’m sorry,” he whispered again. “I didn’t…want you to worry…or be upset.”

“Upset?” she finally pulled away from him, holding him out in front of her so she could properly scold him as he stared at the floor. “Itachi! You are my son! It is my job to worry about you and it is my job to protect you. You are my precious, my happy thought. No one hurts my sons. No one. I love you Itachi.”

A small smile finally slid onto Itachi’s face as he held her tighter. Deidara nearly rolled his eyes, feeling as though Itachi hadn’t listened to a single thing he said earlier. Of course she wasn’t angry at him, but Itachi had still been afraid. Turning his back on them, Deidara headed to the door, feeling the anger boiling up in him again. Itachi was a fucking idiot.

His movement caught Itachi’s attention, the brunette reaching out to catch his arm as he nearly reached the door. “Mom,” he said, dragging the blond closer. “Deidara saved me, after it happened. He’s been keeping me safe.”

“Oh, Deidara, thank you,” Mikoto cried, swooping down on the startled boy to hug him tightly, fussing over him as she did Itachi. Itachi mouthed an apologetic ‘sorry’ to the blond behind her back. “Thank you so much…”

“Uh, you’re welcome,” Deidara stammered, giving her an awkward pat on the shoulder.

“I really, truly can’t thank you enough,” she said, squeezing him tight and giving him a gentle kiss on the forehead. “Thank you for saving my Itachi.” Finally she let go of the blond to hug her eldest again. Sasuke gave Dediara his own thanks, though avoided the touchiness his mother had, for which the blond was extremely grateful. “Whose clothes are these?” Mikoto finally asked, looking down at the clothes that her son would never have worn last year.

“Deidara got them for me, since I only had one pair,” Itachi informed her as Deidara took an obvious step back in case Mikoto went for him again. But Mikoto only gave a watery smile to show her thanks.

“Sit down, sweety,” MIkoto said, pulling Itachi down onto the living room sofa. She took his hand between hers, petting as if to comfort him. “Itachi, I want you to tell me what happened,” she said gently. Itachi became fascinated with his knees, his arm twitched like he wanted to jerk his hand away from his mother. Deidara, however, looked curious at Itachi. He hadn’t yet heard what had happened, only made imaginative guesses based on Itachi’s injuries. “Your room was frightening,” she said, even more gently. “You don’t have to tell me what happened in detail. I just want to know where you were hurt…I checked every hospital in the city, I was sure you had lost enough blood that you would go to one…”

“My friend knows a doctor, un,” Deidara spoke up. “We were worried that Uchiha would come take Itachi if we took him to a hospital. His left arm and some in his hand was broken, he had a concussion – the blood was from a cut on his forehead, and some other bruises and stuff, un. We splint the bones and stuff, they said it was good now but should probably get real X-rays and stuff.” Itachi gave him an accusing look of betrayal, but Deidara just shrugged.

“Thank you, Deidara,” MIkoto said quietly. “We’ll go see a doctor tomorrow,” she added to Itachi, smiling at him as she reached up to stroke his face. “What have you been doing?”

“Studying,” Itachi said quietly. “Sometimes I worked, just couldn’t do much cause of my arm.”

“Oh!” Deidara said, uncomfortableness at the family reunion kept driving him to speak even though he knew Mikoto wanted to talk to Itachi. “I have pictures, un.”

“Pic…tures?” Itachi turned to stare at him. “What pictures?”

Deidara reached into his pockets and pulled out a few small envelopes. “I used my snow shoveling money to develop them and make copies, un,” he said, taking a few hesitant steps towards them and held it out, not wanting to approach any more.

Mikoto took the envelopes from him, opening them and pulling out polaroids and photographs. He had made them in case Mikoto had not been as caring as she sounded on the phone, as a buffer to show Itachi healing and enjoying himself. Before the event, she had seemed so thrilled he had friends when he came over for dinner. He had seen the picture frames in the house, Itachi didn’t smile. Ever. But here he had proof that Itachi had changed. At the garage, posing with the crew with a new car, Christmas Eve at Daichi’s, sitting with friends, laughing with them, playing games with them, New Years Day, playing with the children at the park, setting off sparklers. He had tried to choose pictures that showed as few of the other faces as possible, but Rin and Daichi had both said theirs was alright. Itachi and his mother looked at each picture together, Mikoto smiling affectionately at each new picture.

“You look so happy,” she said, going back to the picture someone had taken on Christmas Eve, the two of them laughing at some forgotten joke. Deidara remembered only bits and pieces of that night, mostly that he had a really good day, a better night, and had woken up Christmas morning with warm contentment instead of regret and pain. “May I keep this one?” she asked, showing it to him.

“You can keep all of them, un,” Deidara said. “I already have copies.”

She smiled, placing them safely back into the envelopes again, holding them like treasures. “Thank you Deidara,” she said. “Itachi, why don’t you put your things in your room and I’ll order something for us all to eat. Do you like pizza, Deidara?”

“Uh…sure,” the blond said slowly, unsure and beginning to regret coming over. This felt a bit too much for him. Itachi stood, going to pick up his box from where he left it by the door and Deidara followed him up, so close behind him that he ran into Itachi when he stopped to open his door.

“You don’t mind staying?” Itachi asked, the door swinging open. Deidara shook his head and glanced inside. The room was spotless, but smelled differently than he remembered. He wondered if the carpet had been changed because of the blood. There was no sign of it. “You don’t have someon—thing to do tonight?” the brunette asked again, catching himself before he said something he would regret.

Deidara sat down on Itachi’s bed, wondering if he should comment on the near slip, but decided not to and shrugged it off instead. “I have a,” he faked a cough, “cold. Wouldn’t want to spread it on.”

“You obviously don’t mind spreading it here,” Itachi commented as he brought the box over to his desk and began taking things out of it.

“Nope,” he replied, grinning as he tucked his hands behind his head and leaned back against Itachi’s pillow, a small part of him sighing in relief at the comfort. He watched Itachi pull the shirt he’d been wearing off and go into his walk-in closet to change into his own clothes. He wondered if Itachi felt uncomfortable in the others and frowned a bit. If he didn’t like them he could have told him. “Be careful,” Itachi called out, breaking his thoughts. “I might think you’re into me or something.” Deidara gave a sarcastic laugh as Itachi turned the light out and walked back into the room wearing track pants and a t-shirt. Maybe he was just putting casual clothes on. The Uchiha came over to him and folded his arms. “Not even a little bit?”

“Nope,” he assured him, watching him crawl up the bed towards him.

“Not even a smidge of the Florence Nightingale effect?”

“What’s that?”

“When a doctor or nurse falls in love with their patient,” Itachi replied, grinning down at him.

“Hell no!” Deidara laughed aloud as Itachi leaned down to kiss his neck then his lips, still chuckling a little. It had been a month or so since he’d stopped pulling away when Itachi went in for a kiss. Sure they had kissed plenty, and more, but it was Deidara who initiated. Itachi had been allowing him to control the situation between them, something he normally would have snapped about, but realized he liked quite a bit. He wondered sometimes if it had been a form of manipulation, because here he was letting Itachi kiss him first and had no idea why he stopped pulling away from him.

“Thanks for coming with me,” Itachi said softly, shifting to hover over him.

“No problem,” Deidara replied with a grin. “I told you she wouldn’t care, un.”

“Get a room,” Sasuke said from the open doorway.

“We are in a room,” Itachi reminded him with a glare. “My room.”

Sasuke didn’t take the hint and walked in. “Are you two dating or something now?” Sasuke asked with a mischievous grin like he thought that information would be useful later.

“Not yet,” Itachi snapped, sitting up. “What do you want?”

Sasuke’s grin shrunk slightly and he looked both nervous and embarrassed. “I just wanted to make sure you really were okay,” he said softly. “Mom’s embarrassing and all, but… you can tell me.”

Deidara watched Itachi’s face soften as he looked at his brother and smiled at him. “Yes, Sasuke, I am fine now,” he assured him, facing him properly. “Nothing happened… to you while…” 

“No, no,” Sasuke assured him, shaking his head quickly. “A few days after you left, we got in an argument. I asked if he killed you, and he said no. I figured you’d gotten away somehow and was hiding cause I couldn’t figure out what had pissed him off so much. I told him that if he did anything to me, I’d tell mom why you were missing.”

“Sasuke,” Itachi gasped, staring at him. “He could have—”

“I know,” Sasuke said defiantly, folding his arms. “I didn’t care.”

The two brothers stared at one another for a few moments before Itachi got up to pull his brother into a hug. “I’m sorry Sasuke,” he said, sounding like he was trying to put more into the words than an apology.

“It’s okay, Niisan,” the youngest Uchiha replied muffled against Itachi’s shirt. “You can’t take on everything alone.”

Itachi pressed his forehead against his brother’s and grinned down at him. “I can try,” he offered and Sasuke smiled back, finally stepping out of the room and went down the hall to his own room.

“Not yet?” Deidara repeated, looking at him with a raised eyebrow.

Itachi looked at him confused as he relayed silently what had been said between them and suddenly had the same nervous and embarrassed expression Sasuke had a few moments ago. “Sorry, I…” he started then swallowed. “Back in December, when I was going to take you up to the mountain, I was going to ask if you wanted to, but…you know how that worked out,” Itachi said, holding his hands out in surrender. “I’ve just been waiting for the right moment again.”

“What makes you think I’ll say yes, un?” Deidara questioned, still giving him a look. He wasn’t sure if he was irritated or not, but something in his face made some of the nervousness on Itachi’s face leave.

“Nothing,” Itachi admitted, shrugging. “I just like spending time with you and figured it couldn’t hurt to ask.”

Deidara said nothing in response to what he said, but didn’t pull away when Itachi leaned over to kiss his neck again. He was saved the trouble of thinking this over by Mikoto’s voice calling up the stairs that pizza had arrived. “You sure you want me to stay?” Deidara asked skeptically as Itachi called that they’d be down in a minute.

“Why wouldn’t I?” he asked, standing up.

“I mean…your mom probably wants to spend time with you, un,” he replied with a shrug.

Itachi looked down at him for a moment, considering him a moment. “What would you do if you left?” he asked quietly. 

Deidara scoffed, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. “You don’t want to know.”

“Yes, I do.”

“No, you don’t, un.”

“Try me.”

Deidara frowned up at him, the idea of dating plaguing him now. He didn’t date. People didn’t like dating people like him. “I’m going to the club and buy some shit cause I’m out and maybe meet some dumb asshole who’s willing to throw money for a quick fuck or something, un. Maybe one of the crazy ones will be around, the it’d be all weird fetishes and probably a lot of pain, but a couple extra hundred bucks on top of it, un.” He saw Itachi’s throat clench a little as he swallowed as he fought to keep his face neutral. “Told you,” he murmured, getting up and hurrying to the door so Itachi couldn’t say anything. 

Downstairs, he sat down at the dining room table with Mikoto and Sasuke, snagging the plate she handed him and poured himself a drink as he thanked her for dinner. Itachi came down a few moments later and sat down, both trying to watch Deidara and not at the same time.

“Sweety,” Mikoto said, after handing him a plate of pizza. “Your letters arrived while you were gone. From the colleges you applied to.”

“Oh,” Itachi said, finally tearing his eyes away from Deidara’s plate. “Will I still be alright to graduate? I missed so many days…”

“The entire city knows what happened,” Deidara commented, “so I’m sure you get a free pass or something, un. Besides, everyone knows you’re a genius anyway.”

Mikoto smiled at Deidara, then turned to Itachi. “After we go to the doctors, we can go discuss this with your school’s administration. Unless you want to stay home and take a sick day,” she added quickly, looking at him in concern.

“No, mom,” Itachi assured her. “I really miss school, actually. I’ve been taking too many sick days when I’ve been better.”

She nodded and smiled happily at him, hand moving to rub his arm resting on the table. “I understand. I’m so happy you’re alright, Itachi,” she said softly, then turned to reach back to the small table behind her place and pick up a stack of envelops. “Here they are.”

Deidara reached forward and took them from her, grinning at Itachi expression as he began leafing through the impressive stack of acceptance letters to the universities. “You should go to this one,” he said, finally pulling one out and placing it on the table in front of him.

Itachi glanced down at it, then looked up at him in surprise. “That one is my first choice, but it’s over four hours away,” Itachi told him. “I wouldn’t be able to visit on weekends.”

“But you have to go to the best school and this is the best, un,” Deidara informed him, waving the envelope at him. “The head mistress is one of the top criminal lawyers in the country right now.”

“How do you know that?” Itachi asked, startled. Mikoto and Sasuke looked surprised as well.

“I know some things,” Deidara retorted, offended by their surprise.

“About law school?” Sasuke asked in disbelief.

“Obviously,” he rolled his eyes as Sasuke then shrugged at Itachi in a challenging manner. There was silence for a few moments as he ate a third slice of pizza and Itachi took the rest of the envelopes from him. He frown down at his plate then stood up. “I should go,” he said, picking up his crust and pushing his chair back in. “Thanks for dinner.”

“What?” the three Uchiha’s said, startled. “You don’t have to go, Deidara,” Mikoto added.

“Yeah, I do,” he mumbled. “You haven’t seen Itachi in months, I’ve seen him almost every day, un. He missed you, I’m just making it awkward.” He stepped out of the dining room and went to the door to retrieve his coat and pull his shoes on.

“Dei,” Itachi said behind him. “You really don’t have to go.”

“What did I tell you about calling me that?” Deidara growled at him, opening the door. Itachi followed him outside and grabbed his arm before he could make it down the steps, closing the front door gently behind him to give them privacy.

“You don’t have to go,” Itachi insisted. “You don’t have to do this… whatever you’re planning on doing.”

“Meaning you don’t want me to do it,” Deidara corrected him, realizing he meant go out to make money tonight.

“I don’t want to see you hurt,” Itachi insisted. Deidara could hear him trying not to sound like he was pitying the blond as he spoke. He’d learned that while staying at Daichi’s well. “If you need money, just ask. I don’t… I don’t want to tell you how to live, but I don’t like seeing you hurt.”

The muscles in Deidara’s cheek twitched a little as he clenched his jaw, unsure of what he was feeling. Anger, irritation, confusion, blank. “I don’t need money,” he said firmly, lips pursed tightly together.

“But you need drugs,” Itachi murmured. “You need pain killers and you need to not be tied to Daichi’s work, so you need money.”

“Why the hell are you talking like you know what I need, un?” Deidara demanded, his temper rising. “You don’t know what I need or what! Stop acting like you know everything, un!”

Itachi just shook his head, keeping a firm, yet gentle, grasp on his arm. “I’ve seen you, Deidara. You try to hide it, but I’ve seen you come home in so much pain. I’ve seen you sick from too many pain killers the next day. I’ve seen you go through withdrawals when you can’t get drugs for a while. And Daichi tells everyone to leave you alone because he thinks he’s given you enough chances, but it’s going to kill you one day, Deidara. You’re miserable.”

“I am not pathetic like that, un,” Deidara nearly shouted, trying to yank his arm out of Itachi’s grasp.

“I don’t think you’re pathetic,” Itachi insisted, his voice still gentle. “You have more options than you’re giving yourself. When I said I wanted to ask you out, I knew what sort of person you are. I know more now and I’d still ask you out, Deidara. I don’t want to change you, I just don’t want to see you miserable and in pain.”

Deidara stared at him, his anger simmering out into a feeling of uncaring blankness. “You’re an idiot,” he said. “You’ve got all kinds of shit going for you like school and college and family that cares about you, why would you want something like me messing that up?”

“I don’t think you’d mess it up,” Itachi said with a smile. “I think you fixed it, actually.”

A skeptical snort came out of his nose and Itachi finally let him go, taking it as a sign that he wouldn’t run away. “Go back inside, Itachi,” he said, turning his back to him.

“Will you be at school tomorrow?” Itachi asked.

Deidara glanced back at him and saw him give him a stern look when he made a face at the thought of going to school. “Fine,” he said, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Do you need a ride?”

“No, I’m good.”

Damn it. Deidara walked down the silent street, stuffing his earbuds into his ears to drown out his thoughts. It didn’t work. He didn’t feel like going to school. He felt like a ball of aggravation that he couldn’t quite escape from and didn’t know how to let it out. He shouldn’t have come tonight. It made him feel weird to be in the house with them after basically destroying their entire livelihood. At least Uchiha was gone. It wasn’t just being in the house. Itachi had gotten to him. Without his even noticing, Itachi had gotten under his skin. What was wrong with him? He never let him get so friendly with people. Especially people who just wanted to get in his pants. But Itachi had already gotten in them and he still came back. Deidara couldn’t really figure that one out. No one had ever done that before. It was confusing him because he couldn’t remember giving Itachi any indication that he wanted more than that. When had he begun to crave his company? When had it started? He couldn’t remember. It wasn’t like him to want someone around. Or that someone else wanted him around. When Itachi had been in bed and offered him to sleep with him instead of climbing up to his bunk, he always thought that maybe Itachi was weirded out by sleeping in a weird place with a bunch of other people and he was someone he knew. Or maybe he was cold and Deidara was just keeping him warm. The third option was that Itachi just wanted him to have sex, but if that was so, why had Deidara accepted to sleep with him so often, even when sleeping was all they did? He concluded that it had been one of the first two options. The third didn’t make sense to him. When he stayed at his apartment, he found himself feeling lonely in bed, craving things he found himself not wanting as much as he used to. Feeling disgusted in himself when he reached for any type of drug available to him. He knew Itachi could tell when something was off and Daichi hated seeing him high. If he was at his apartment, he would get high, so he had begun to stay at the garage more than his place, accepting the angry looks from Daichi to stay with Itachi instead.

He had really gotten under his skin.

So where to now? He stopped at a crossroad and looked around. There was usually someone around the clubs looking for him today, but it was later than they usually met up so if they had waited for him they’d be pretty mad. He was far more than fashionably late. Maybe he should just go home. But since he had mentioned a possible plan to Itachi, he found himself craving something. Something to make him stop thinking all these thoughts. Decision made, he turned the corner.

The neon lights were flashing as they always did. He could almost hear the beat of the music from outside, but even clubs had to abide by the rules of the lease, keeping the noise level outside as quiet as possible. People were outside with bottles in their hands, drinking, smoking, and making out. It was cold outside, they were morons. The bouncer at the door greeted him, motioning himself without even bothering to check his fake ID. He’d been coming here too long. Ignoring the dancers and the bar, he went to the back table in the corner where a few men were playing cards and drinking.

“Deidara,” one greeted, lifting his glass to him before draining it. “What can I do for you?”

“I need some shit,” Deidara said, pulling his headphones out of his ears to jam back in his pocket. He pulled out his wallet and tugged out a stack of folded bills, placing them on the table. The man looked at them, then reached into his pocket and pulled out a paper package to hand to him. Deidara shoved it and his wallet into his bag and walked away. He didn’t like them. He came, he bought, he left. End of it.

It wasn’t that late, but Deidara had a feeling if he was going to survive school tomorrow, he should just go home and sleep. He stepped through the dancers towards the door. When he had first gone to the clubs when he was younger, he thought the smell was revolting. Bodies, cigarettes and alcohol. Now it was just another familiar smell. But he didn’t want to be a part of it tonight. The noise difference almost startling as he stepped out into the street again. The smokers were gone. He turned to the direction of the apartment and began walking.

A car suddenly pulled up in front of him, nearly hitting him as he began to cross the street. “What the hell?” he demanded, ready to kick the car until he saw who got out of it. “Oh.”

“You’re late. Get in.”

Shit. “Sorry,” Deidara said, grinning a little as though he were playing a game. “I ran into some problems on the way here, un.”

“Get in,” the man repeated.

Deidara chewed on his lip, suddenly not wanting to do this. Itachi’s words came into his head again and he tried to push him out. He didn’t like it either, but Itachi didn’t have any business voicing his thoughts when he wasn’t even there. “Sorry, not feeling good tonight,” Deidara said, going around his car. “Maybe later, okay?”

A hand grabbed him as he passed, slamming him hard into the car. “You made me wait over an hour for you,” the man growled.

“So what,” Deidara demanded, trying to shake the man off. “I said no, get off m—” His head was smashed into the side of the car, his vision blacking out for a moment as the man tossed him into the back of his car, climbing over him a moment and cuffing his hands behind his back. “Hey!” Deidara snapped, trying to shake his vision clear. “I said no! Let me out!”

The man got into the front seat and drove off. “I’m paying you,” he was reminded. “You don’t have a choice.”

“Yes, I do, un!” Deidara snapped angrily, struggling to try to twist his arms as best he could to reposition himself into a better defensive position, but he couldn’t get the cuffs to go around his head. When the car stopped, he was dragged out and into the house, struggling violently, but couldn’t get away. He didn’t want it! He never wanted it, not from people like this, but Itachi had been right. He needed money, so he let them. But it was on his terms. Always on his terms and this sick prick decided that he didn’t have a choice in the matter because of what he did. Like Itachi had when they first met, but Itachi learned, this man didn’t. This man was a sick pervert who liked to fuck teenagers instead of his own wife. His wife didn’t know about it, but he didn’t know that her girl’s night out was often at a male strip club and she’d often go home with one of the strippers. He didn’t know about her, she didn’t know about him. Deidara only knew because he knew one of the strippers.

He had been with this man many times before and knew their schedules now. She got home at 10:30 on a normal night out. It was almost 9:00 now. He’d saved himself a whole hour of his painful sadistic abuse, but he hadn’t been able to stick himself before the man got to him. He’d be completely aware and unable to block anything out, ride any high until it was over. He was stuck and the man had him tied up. It didn’t matter if he said no, or how much he struggled and fought. Once the man had him restrained to the bed, the man saw it as playful disobedience that wanted punishment he loved dishing out. Deidara was such a good actor before after all, it was hard to tell when he was being serious. Perhaps he just didn’t care. The hand on the clocks dragged agonizingly slow as teeth and toys tore at his skin, the man’s breath, stinking of alcohol, on his neck. He shut himself down as best he could until the man left to clean himself off in the shower and finally released Deidara to push him into the bathroom to have him clean himself up. It hurt so badly to move, his skin raw where he’d struggled against the restraints, his body feeling as though it had been flayed. He cleaned up as best he could with robotic actions. He stared at his reflection in the bathroom mirror.

Itachi was wrong. He was pathetic.

The thought cracked open the door he had shut in his mind to endure the night and rage came out. Using the soap, he wrote a message in the bathroom mirror that would appear in the steam when his wife came home and showered: ‘He kidnapped me and raped me.’ He usually looked into his clients, curiosity one of his strongest traits. She was his source of money.

The man drove him back to the streets of lost souls and shoved a wad of bills into his hand and pushed him out. The man was still angry at him. He’d be angrier when his wife found out, but what was he going to do to Deidara. He didn’t even want his money now, dirtied not from pathetic fetishes but the brutality of where it came from. He shoved it into his pants pocket anyway, hating himself for it and began limping down the street. He didn’t want to walk, but it was too cold to curl up on a bench for the night. He knew he was bleeding, causing his clothes to stick to his body and rub painfully against the open cuts. It was a very slow walk to the garage, which was closer than his apartment from here.

When he got inside, angry disappointment greeted him. Daichi was there alone, finishing up a customer’s car. Very few people knew about Daichi’s past self, before he began to work hard on keeping his anger in check. Before Rin had inspired him to keep himself calm and kind. Deidara remembered those days. He kept it hidden from others, but there was no one else in the room but the two of them. Daichi knew he remembered and didn’t care. He took in his bleeding wounds, his lip and his bruised face and knew he hadn’t stayed with Itachi after he left.

“Daichi—”

“Go to bed, Deidara,” Daichi’s cold voice commanded. His fingers were clenched around the tool in his hand so tightly his knuckles were white.

“Daichi,” Deidara pleaded in a whisper. “I didn’t… I didn’t let this…please help me, un.” He hated asking for help, but the walk back to the shop had taken all of his energy and he could barely stay standing now. He hated how his body was shaking, how he couldn’t get his voice to go any louder – tight and raw from screaming in pain. Itachi was wrong. He was pathetic, and insisting he wasn’t was just a lie. His ego just wouldn’t let him see it until he got like this.

“No,” Daichi said, turning his back to him and put the tool away, closing the hood of the car with a loud noise as metal struck metal.

“I have to go to school tomorrow, un. Daichi please,” he felt his knees give out under him and the concrete floor coming closer. His hands caught his head from smashing down, but he let himself sink to the freezing floor. He just couldn’t get up again. It was a few moments before he could lift his head up again, but the mechanic was leaving, turning off the lights and machines before going out the back door to drive home, leaving Deidara curled up in pain on the floor alone.


	14. Chapter 14

After being around friends for so long, Itachi found the day going by much slower than normal. He had spent much of the morning at the doctors with his mother, getting x-rays and checked over before being given a clean bill of health. The doctor had commended whoever had done his arm and fingers, saying the bones were healing nicely for having been placed in a makeshift cast. Despite his mother asking if he wanted to take another day, he asked to go to school, driving himself because it had been a long time since he had been able to go anywhere that wasn’t in someone else’s car. He couldn’t go to classes because he had to meet with the administration and they had given him a special pass to give to all his teachers. They couldn’t completely give him a free ride, but since his record was completely spotless, his teachers might be able to work something out for him. After that, he had to go to all his teachers and talk to them. Most sympathized, all said they were sorry about what had happened to him and they all wanted to work with him to allow him to make up all the work he had missed. By the time he was done, the only class he had left was the last class, where he hoped to see Deidara. He hadn’t been able to spot him in the hallways when he arrived, unsure what class he had at the time.

He hurried to the gym and quickly changed in the locker room. Why was he this excited? He felt like a middle schooler chasing after a crush. Deidara wasn’t a crush. Itachi did not have crushes. Period. But he did like being around Deidara. The blond just pulled him no matter how often he pushed him away. After seeing him nearly every day, being away so long felt strange and he wanted to see him. Maybe he did have a little crush. He didn’t see Deidara in the locker room and his excitement dropped a little until he walked out to wait for attendance call, ignoring the stares and whispers.

Deidara was talking to the teacher.

Smiling, Itachi went to sit down on the bleachers and watched the two of them talk. He couldn’t see Deidara’s face, but the teacher was frowning in a thoughtful manner. He watched Deidara hand something to the teacher, who read it and sighed, nodding. Deidara turned and walked slowly into the locker rooms, a slight limp in his step as he shouldered his bag as he disappeared. He didn’t even look towards the bleachers.

The teacher called roll, marking down who was here and who wasn’t, then waved them to start running laps to warm up. Getting up, Itachi hurried over to the teacher, offering the pass the principle had given him at the end of their meeting.

“Glad to see you back and alright, Itachi,” the man said with a wide smile, showing that he meant what he said. “I’m sorry to hear about what you went through.”

Itachi just shrugged. He’d been hearing that all day. “Where is Deidara going?” he asked, glancing back towards the locker room door as the teacher made a mark on his grading book so Itachi wouldn’t get penalized for the days he missed.

“He had a special pass from the nurse not to get dressed today,” the teacher replied, waving it off.

“Is something wrong?” Itachi asked, staring at the man in concern. He looked back at the door as if Deidara would walk out and tell him what was wrong.

“There are many things wrong with that boy, Itachi,” the teacher said, handing the pass back to him. “Honestly, the pass was probably fake.”

Itachi frowned, but started jogging with the others. Earlier in the school year, he would have said the same thing. Actually, now that he thought about it, he still would. Deidara was the kind of person to have a fake pass to get out of doing something he didn’t want to do, and there was many things wrong with Deidara, but nothing that should be looked down on like these teachers did. Deidara was much more than a delinquent student. He didn’t mind Deidara’s faults and weird personality anymore. He found them all endearing.

After the warm up, they went outside to run. Itachi quickly came to realize how little he had exercised that winter. That wasn’t good. Itachi liked staying in shape, liked going jogging in the morning before school, or after school, but he’d completely forgot about running when he was staying at the garage. Plus he had been mending and couldn’t, but he hadn’t even done any stretches or minor work out things. He’d have to push himself to get back into shape again.

Still, despite being out of shape, running felt wonderful. The air was cool, but warming up as spring approached. They were running timed lapses. Everyone in his class was so lazy, dropping off or just plain walking instead of running. He finished first, despite his legs and shoulders burning from lack of use. They had gotten used to laziness, but he would push them back to work again. Ignoring the teacher who said he could finish, he continued to job lightly around the track, the pounding of his feet on the asphalt a familiar friend. He had talked to Deidara once about going running or to a gym, but the blond assured him he was as fit as he needed to be. “Sex is a great work out, didn’t you know, un?” had been his reply. What an idiot. Yes, he knew that, but there were other ways of working out that were fun too.

When he finally returned to the locker room, nearly everyone was finished showering and dressed, waiting for the bell to ring with the okay to go home. Itachi noticed nearly right away that everyone was being quieter than normal, whispering among themselves. They looked like they were trying to let the person they were whispering about over hear them, despite the obviousness of it. Itachi assumed it must be about himself. Whispers had been following him all day, but they didn’t stop when he walked in, so he assumed it wasn’t. He went to his locker and pulled his shirt off, grabbing his towel to go into the showers, he overheard snippets of the whispers.

“Did you see his face?”

“Forget his face, did you see the rest of him?”

“I can’t believe he came to school like that. What the hell were his parents thinking?”

“Dude, he doesn’t have any.”

“He’s never here anyway, why’d he come looking like that?”

Deidara. They were talking about Deidara.

“Where is he?” Itachi demanded, quickly stepping around the lockers to glare at them. They sounded like a bunch of kids gossiping.

“The showers,” one stammered, looking shocked to see the expression on his face.

Itachi turned before they could ask more questions, going into the shower room. The whole room was tiled with showers lining the walls to let the boys shower in privacy, much like the bathroom at the garage. Only one shower was still running, but it was making the whole bathroom steam up. What were the boys talking about? What was wrong with Deidara’s face? What had happened that he needed a note to get out of class? Going over to the shower, he pulled the curtain open and looked down at the blond. Eyes widening in horror, he quickly reached over and shut off the water that was so hot it had turned Deidara’s skin bright red, though it wasn’t enough to hide the long red marks running down his whole body, like someone had taken a knife or whip to him.

Startled by the intrusion, Deidara looked up, ready to yell at the person, but it turned to a mortified one when he saw Itachi. Now the brunette could see what the others had meant. Deidara had a horrible looking bruise on the side of his face and one on his jaw, but that was the least of the damage. The further down his eyes went, the more the marks became. Bruises were darker, littered with bite marks and cuts. His back and chest were covered in those long red marks and bruises that got more painful looking the lower his eyes went. Stopping himself from going too far, he grabbed Deidara’s towel and knelt down to cover him, gently toweling him down. He saw Deidara open and close his mouth but no words came out, the mortified expression still frozen in place.

Reaching up, Itachi pushed his dripping hair off his face to see him better. “Deidara, what happened?” he asked softly. He was aware that the teacher had appeared at the door, taking a sharp intake of breath when he saw Deidara. He wanted to snap at the man, demanding to know whether he believed his note or not now, but he restrained himself, taking his own towel and gently drying Deidara’s hair, being careful when he pulled his hair away from his flayed skin.

His movements seemed to shake Deidara out of his trance. “I didn’t allow this,” he croaked out, voice rough and ragged. “He…he threw me in his car, he forced me and tied me down, Itachi, I swear I didn’t let this happen, un!” His voice had started in a quiet distressed voice, but quickened into a begging panic. He didn’t want Itachi to see him like this, he felt so dirty and pathetic. “I went to the club to talk to someone and tried to just go home! I told him no! I did!”

“It’s okay, Deidara,” Itachi said, trying to calm him down as he carefully pat him dry. “I believe you.”

“My god…” the teacher breathed, making Deidara jump and pull away as the man knelt down with another towel. “Everyone, go home. The bell rang already.”

Itachi heard the reluctant feet that followed the teacher to the door departing, but he didn’t want the teacher here either. Deidara was naked and obviously distressed about being found in the state he was in. He didn’t need someone else here too. Especially someone he didn’t like. Deidara shrunk even further away when the teacher reached out to him, so Itachi shifted between them, pulling Deidara into his lap and continued to dry him off gently. “Now do you believe him?” Itachi finally snapped, glaring at the man.

The gym teacher looked startled, then frowned at the teenager trying to talk down to him. It didn’t matter who Itachi was. “It was hard to tell with just his face showing,” he said defensively. “Give him to me, I’ll take him to the nurse…maybe the hospital. This is assault. Sexual assault!”

“Obviously,” Itachi snapped, grabbing the new towel from the teacher and carefully wrapped Deidara up in it. He threw the other towel away that was dotted with Deidara’s blood, still oozing from his wounds after being opened in the hot water. He used his towel to wrap Deidara’s long hair up, then stood up with Deidara in his arms, unable to help the grin that appeared on his face at the startled cry from Deidara as he wrapped his arm around Itachi’s neck as if worried he’d drop him. He carried him out and gently set him down on the locker room benches. “Now we’re even, right?” he asked quietly, helping him change into his clothes. When Deidara gave him a confused expression, Itachi shrugged. “You helped me when I was hurt, now I can help you.”

“You’re not taking me to the hospital, are you, un?” Deidara asked as Itachi pulled his shirt over his head, sounding relieved.

“You told me you hate them,” Itachi reminded him, giving him a little shrug. He hurried back to his locker to change into his clothes. He’d shower later. When he came back, Deidara was standing by the door with the teacher next to him, glaring at the man any time he came closer. Grinning a little, Itachi took Deidara’s school bag and easily lifted Deidara up in his arms. He was too light. Next chance he got, he’d have to stuff him full of food.

“I can walk you know, un,” he muttered. “You don’t have to carry me.”

“I saw you limping when you came in,” Itachi commented. “I don’t want you to hurt yourself anymore. Plus you’re really light, so it doesn’t matter.”

They ignored their teacher the whole walk to the car. He wasn’t taking him to the nurse, or that principle, or the police, or the hospital. He just took him away from the school. The teacher threw a fit when he placed him carefully into the passenger’s seat, rolling his eyes at the adult ranting behind him. That earned a small grin from Deidara as he shut the door and walked around to get into the car himself. What was the teacher going to do? Suspend him for helping his friend?

Deidara often shifted between dead silence and unending chatter. When they had first met, he often refused to talk to Itachi, but since then the blond had often found something to chatter about, if only to fill the silences he hated so much. Itachi glanced over at him a few times, watching him stare out the window, watching the scenery go by. Every so often he would flex some part of his body as if testing how much pain he was in. Each time he winced a little, but didn’t say anything. When they were far from the school, Itachi pulled over and turned to face him.

“Who did it?” he demanded.

“Some asshole.”

“That narrows it down to only ninety-nine percent of the world population,” Itachi scoffed.

“Don’t worry about it,” Deidara told him, slowly leaning back in his seat. “I took care of it, un. You’re talking like you’re gonna go after him or something.”

Ouch. He got that one right. Itachi tried to keep his face stoic and neutral so as not to let Deidara have the joy of knowing he read him right, but also to hide the anger welling up inside him. “Deidara, you’re really hurt,” he said quietly.

“I’ve had worse,” came the predictable response.

“But…” Itachi pressed, unable to keep this in check. “The teacher was right, this is rape. You should report it…something.”

Deidara turned and stared at him a moment, frowning slightly. “Do you know what girls go through when they try to report rape? Even when they’re not hookers? You think anyone’s going to care if it’s a guy?” he demanded, though it was without much venom. “Besides, no one at the station is in any mood to listen to me right now.” He gave a shrug and folded his arms, looking out the window again. “I don’t really like that guy, but others aren’t so bad, I don’t mind rough stuff usually, un”

“…You like that masochist stuff?” he looked at him curiously as he gave a half shrug and nodded. Strange teenager. Sure, Itachi didn’t exactly hate that kind of stuff, but he would never let other people do that to him, especially to this extent. Well, he supposed he let his father get away with aggression towards him, but no one else. “You didn’t have to come to school like this.”

“I promised.”

“I would have understood,” Itachi insisted. “You could have called for a ride.”

“Didn’t want you to worry, un.”

“Deidara,” Itachi growled. Deidara gave him an innocently look, which Itachi ignored, but changed the subject which he was sure the blond wanted. “To the garage?”

“No, apartment. Daichi’s not happy with me, un,” he told him, leaning forward to keep his back from rubbing against it.

“Why?” Itachi asked pulling back into traffic.

“He doesn’t believe me, un.”

“Believe what?”

“That I didn’t just let it happen,” Deidara muttered. “He thought I just let him do it. Left me lying on the garage floor when I came in—shit!”

Itachi had slammed on the breaks, nearly crashing into the car in front of them. Deidara grabbed the panic bar, crying out in pain as he slammed back into his seat. “He what?” Itachi cried, staring wildly at him.

“Ow,” Deidara groaned, eyes squeezed shut. “D-don’t do that again,” he whimpered quietly.

“Sorry,” Itachi said, turning his car back on since he’d stalled.

“Daichi’s not a saint, you know that,” Deidara said after a few deep breaths. “He doesn’t like it when I do shit like that and come back all messed up, un. He gives chances, but…I’ve used mine all up. He’d ignore me even if I was bleeding to death on the floor probably, un.”

“…Sorry Dei…” Itachi said, thinking on it before shifting gears. “Deidara,” he corrected himself. “Do you want anything?”

Deidara grinned a little at Itachi correcting himself. “I’m okay,” he assured him.

Itachi pulled into the parking lot of a McDonald’s. “Stay here, I’ll get dinner and some stuff from the conbini,” he said, getting out of the car. He ordered a few things off the menu for Deidara, not really caring for McDonald’s food himself. He text his mother to tell her that he was helping Deidara after school and went into the conbini to get first aid products and some other things before going back to the car. “Chicken nuggets, large fries, cheese burger for later, vanilla milkshake,” he said, handing the bag and cup to Deidara.

“Whoa, stalker much?” Deidara said, though he looked pleased as he hugged the bag of his favorite order.

Itachi smiled as he pulled out of the parking lot and drove to Deidara’s apartment. He parked the car in the back, hidden from any eyes on the street, still paranoid about leaving his car in view of dangerous sticky hands. He hurried around the car to help Deidara out, but the blond pushed his hands away.

“I can walk,” he snapped, shouldering his school bag and clutching his bag of food possessively. Itachi held his hands up and walked with him around to the front door. Idiot and his ego. He watched his limp carefully, every tightness in his face when he tried to hide the pain of his clothes rubbing against his body. Itachi wanted to be able to catch him if he fell.

Rin was sitting in the first room that had been opened up for a play area for the youngest children. Her smile faltered when she saw Deidara, eyes wide and full of concern as she partially stood to go towards them. Deidara just raised his hand, saying ‘hey’ to her and began climbing up the stairs. Itachi looked back at her and he knew he could tell by the concern on his face that she guessed what was wrong with him. Standing up, she went to a desk and picked up her phone, hand rubbing her swollen belly absentmindedly.

Deidara climbed the stairs slowly, finally reaching his door and unlocking it with his keys and going in, peeling his coat off. Itachi closed the door behind himself as the blond dropped like a log onto his bed with a groan. Itachi sat down, far more gracefully and reached over to gently pull his still damp hair up so he could see him.

“Do you want some ice for that?” he asked, letting his thumb gently trace over the darkening bruise.

“Nah, I’m good,” Deidara mumbled, not lifting his head as he dug into the bag for fries.

“Okay,” Itachi said quietly. “I’m going to clean you up while you eat.”

“What?” Deidara asked, finally lifting his head to give him an incredulous look. “Leave it, I’m fine.”

“You’re bleeding through your shirt,” Itachi said, reaching underneath him to unbutton his shirt so he could take it off as gently as possible.

“This feels weird,” the blond commented, not helping him as he felt down his stomach for all the buttons.

“Yeah, I’ve never done this before, sorry,” Itachi commented, finally pulling his shirt off him and dropping it on the ground. He was happy the blond wasn’t wearing an undershirt for once because he could see it would have been soaked through with blood and probably become painful to take off. “I can’t believe you came to school like this,” he muttered, looking over his back, mortified and angry. Deidara’s responded with a shrug, mouth full of nuggets and French fries, sucking down his milkshake. Itachi reached into the conbini for the first aid things. He soaked a cotton ball with peroxide and dabbed it onto Deidara’s back.

The blond yelped and twisted away from him, his hand flying out as if to smack the offending item out of Itachi’s hand. “What the fuck!” he cried, cowering away from him. “I don’t need that, un!”

“Yes, you do. Don’t be a baby,” Itachi said sternly, frowning at him. “You don’t wash your wounds? You’re crazy. What do you usually do when it’s bad?”

Deidara shrugged, reaching around him for his McDonald’s bag while trying to protect his back from the offending cotton ball. “Stick myself with a needle and sleep it off, un,” he told him, not looking at him when he said it. Deidara was always shy about his drug use when Itachi was around. He didn’t know why, but Itachi knew from what the others had told him that his presence made for a few withdrawals from not wanting to use around him. He always did it when Itachi wasn’t around. To cover up his discomfort, Deidara reached into the bag again. “Holy shit! You got me the kids toy!” Embarrassment gone, he held up the package in triumph and instantly opened it to begin putting it together.

Itachi smiled as he watched him, tilting his head down so Deidara had to look at him. “I don’t mind if you do… if it will make it hurt less when I’m cleaning your back. Which I am going to do, whether you like it or not.” He watched Deidara’s face. Five months of knowing him and he still didn’t know what was going on in his head. “Where do you get it? I can go.”

The blond snorted. “You? Go buy drugs?” he shook his head at him and laid his head down on his arm, munching on a nugget. “There’s stuff in my bag… I bought it last night, just didn’t get the chance to use it, un.”

Itachi watched him prepare the powder he’d taken out of his school bag. Watching him tie his arm up and clean and fill the needle. He’d never seen someone sticking themselves for drugs before and watched with fascinated curiosity. The inside of Deidara’s elbow was bruised with old, faded and scared needle marks from multiple uses. Itachi winced a little. It made him wonder how he never noticed them before, but Deidara usually did cover his arms up at school and the only time he was close to him was in the dark of the bunks. It wasn’t long before the drug took effect and Deidara laid down to eat his food and play with his new toy while he allowed Itachi to bathe his back gently. He whined a few times, but didn’t pull away from him anymore, even allowing him to slide his pants down to clean those marks as well, completely ignorant to the expressions on Itachi’s face. He had been hurt many times, but Itachi had never seen a friend hurt like this. The drug made Deidara both complacent and also giggling and chatty. With only a halfhearted prod, Deidara told him in great detail what had happened last night, not even phased by the sick and angry look on Itachi’s face. It was in no way directed at him, but had he been in any other state of mind, he would have stopped.

“It just makes me so mad, un!” Deidara told him, Itachi finally finished bandaging the worst of the lacerations and lounging on the bed next to him, eating one of the sandwiches he’d bought from the conbini. “You don’t push me to get what you want like they do, un. You’re just way too fucking nice to me, you know? That’s why I don’t like using around you. You seem to think better of me for some reason. Like I’m not just some druggy on the streets, un.”

“I do think you’re more than a drug user,” Itachi agreed, tossing his trash over the side of the bed. 

“You know you’re a lot better looking than any of those fuckwads,” Deidara informed him, reaching up to stroke Itachi’s cheek. “And you’re way better at the sex. Better dick. Definitely. I should know. I’ve seen my share of dicks.” Itachi snorted as Deidara laughed at himself, unable to help but grin at the things coming out of his mouth. “Anyway, while I was cleaning up in the bathroom, I left a message for his wife in the mirror like a horror movie. You know she’s like the majority of his money, so that fucker’s going down, un.”

“Very sneaky,” he told him. He would have preferred beating the man’s brains out, but Deidara wasn’t being very forthcoming with his name. “What did you do when you got home?”

“Well, Daichi’s was closest, so I went there and he was cleaning up. He just doesn’t like people who let people do horrible things to themselves so he was really pissed off. I asked for help cause I didn’t want it and I promised you I’d be at school and I wanted to see you, un. He was just pissed off and left me there and I slept on the floor by the door, un,” Deidara told him, shivering a little. “It was so cold, I thought I’d just die, but I didn’t, obviously.” He was still stroking Itachi’s face as if it had become a habit he couldn’t break. “Daichi used to be such a dick, you know. He was mean and liked fighting and stuff. He liked Rin though, totally crushing on her for years. Like, going to the café where she worked every day for breakfast. He’s super nice around her, and now that she’s pregnant, he wants to be a nice daddy, so he’s trying to be nice all the time. He was mean last night, un.”

“Everyone was mean to you last night,” Itachi commented sympathetically, frowning a little.

“See? That’s why you’re such a great guy and I like you much more than anyone else, un,” Deidara told him as if they had come to an important point in the conversation. “Look you got me McDonalds and you even go me the toy!” he held it up to show him. “And you put bandaids on my back.”

“Sort of,” Itachi replied, smiling at him. He didn’t want to feel pity for the blond, but he couldn’t help noticing how alone Deidara was that he had no one to take care of him when something bad happened.

“You’re so nice to me when you’re not being a dick, un,” he told him, moving over to crawl over top of him. He leaned down to kiss Itachi’s startled lips. His hands began to travel down Itachi’s torso, but Itachi held his hands out to gently place on his shoulders to pull him away.

“Deidara,” Itachi warned. “Did you forget you’re hurt?”

“’Tis but a scratch’, un!” he quoted, then burst out laughing, falling down onto his stomach again. Itachi let his head fall into his hand, sighing softly at the ridiculous things coming out of Deidara’s mouth. Did everyone act like this when they were high? He’d never seen Deidara like this before.

“You didn’t have to come to school just because I said to if you were hurt,” Itachi reminded him again, hoping the more he said it, the more it would sink in.

“Oh!” Deidara cried, his head jerking up. “I just had an excellent idea, un!”

“What?” Itachi said warily.

“Let’s go drive up the mountain to where there are those really steep cliffs, un,” he said earnestly.

“Why?” Itachi asked, confused and worried now. He remembered some of the stories of Deidara’s drug induced accidents.

“So I can throw my motorcycle off it,” Deidara said as if it was obvious.

Itachi stared at him. “What…? Why would you want to do that?”

“I don’t want that piece of shit anymore, un,” Deidara said, sitting up as if he’d go get the bike right now.

“What? Whoa, wait, Deidara,” Itachi sat up as well, reaching out to pull Deidara into his lap so he wouldn’t stand. The blond winced a little, but otherwise didn’t react. “Why would you do that? You love your bike…”

“Because that fucking asshole is the one who gave it to me, un,” Deidara said, resting his head down against Itachi’s shoulder.

Itachi stilled, thinking on that before glancing down at him. He had mentioned once that people gave him presents in hopes he’d give them more of his time. “The one from last night?”

Deidara nodded, curling up against Itachi now that he was resting in his lap. “Sometimes, you know, it’s really scary, un,” he commented in a soft voice, staring at nothing across the room. “You don’t know what they’re going to do to you. They could kill you and what can you do about it, un. I was mostly kidding when I told you what I was planning on doing,” he explained, walking his fingers across Itachi’s knee. “I just wanted to scare you or…something. I wasn’t going to go out with anyone, I just wanted to go home, but he just came at me. I don’t want you to think less of me, un.”

“I don’t,” Itachi assured him, reaching up to run his fingers through the blond’s hair, who preened happily at the touch. “Really, I don’t. I don’t know why you’re worried about that though.”

“Well, you wanna hear a secret?” Deidara whispered to him. “I really, really like you, un.” Itachi couldn’t help the grin that spread across his face now, the feeling swelling in him as he rubbing his cheek against Deidara’s forehead. “And I want to go out with you, but don’t tell anyone. It feels stupid and totally not like me at all, un. But I want to, but it’s a secret.”

“Can I know the secret?” Itachi asked, glancing down at him.

“Yes~” he cooed in a sing song voice, looking up at him with mischievous grin.

“Great,” Itachi said, wrapping his arm around him gently. “Hey, why don’t you lay down sleep?” he murmured, stroking his hair. “You’ll feel better afterwards.”

“That sounds like a great idea,” Deidara said, sliding out of his lap to lay on his stomach. Itachi pull his blankets up over him to keep him warm then laid down next to him, continuing to stroke his hair since he seemed to like it so much. His hair was completely natural blond, but his features seemed to be Japanese. He must be half or something. He wondered what the other something was. Lying in bed like this reminded him of nights spent in the garage when he was hurt and Deidara would come and sleep with him. Sometimes it would be late, after Deidara was with someone, exhausted and clumsy. Was he ever as bad as he was now and Itachi just never noticed? Deidara had mentioned he usually went to people like that after taking drugs. Maybe the drug blocked out the pain until it ebbed away itself to be bearable. Was he always high when he came to see him afterwards? He remembered the night they first had sex in the bunks. Itachi had tried to dissuade him because he knew he was drunk, but Deidara had insisted, and later kept insisting Itachi not touch him all day. Maybe he’d been hurt like this and trying to hide it.

As he glanced down at Deidara’s bag, then at the needle he’d tossed towards the trashcan. Whenever he thought of him using, he remembered those stupid videos the school made them watch on drugs, cigarettes, and diseases. “…Hey, Deidara?” he said softly.

“Hmm?”

He sounded half asleep. It was rather cute and made Itachi smile a little. “Um… Are you…are you sick?” he asked, hating himself for even asking, but…he wanted to know. He really had the right to know since they had had sex. Several times. And they may be officially going out soon.

“Sick…?” Deidara lifted his head up to look at him, blinking bleary eyed. Itachi hadn’t thought he’d drop off so quickly. He wished he had the ability to go to sleep right when he wanted to. What a rare gift.

Itachi contemplated hitting himself again, chewing on his lip softly. “Sick…from the needles…sex…your lifestyle? Really sick, I mean…” he stammered out, not sure how to say it without actually saying it.

It took a moment or two for the sleepy Deidara to understand what he was asking without actually asking. “Oh…No. No, I’m not sick, un…” he told him, head dropping back down on the pillow. “I don’t have any diseases or anything…I’m real careful…and my friend’s a …a doctor…I got…to him…for…check-ups….an’ stuff…”

He smiled in relief as Deidara dozed off in his arms. He surprised himself by realizing that he hadn’t been worried about himself becoming sick. He didn’t want Deidara to be sick. Didn’t want him hurting or in danger, or worrying about becoming so sick he could die from a disease. As he watched Deidara sleep, he continued to play with his hair, finding the gold strands mesmerizing. Deidara seemed to enjoy someone playing with his hair and wondered when the last time someone had done it.

He finished his homework and organized some of the make up work he had received that day to prepare for completing it after the first hour of the blond’s nap. After that he called his mother.

“Hey, mom,” he said, getting up to go to the window. It opened easily and he climbed out onto the fire escape. "Sorry, Deidara’s sick, so I’m taking care of him.”

“Is he? Oh dear, he seemed alright yesterday,” his mother said. “Was it at school?”

“I think it was last night,” he said quietly, spotting a pack of cigarettes the blond had stashed in a brick hole. He pulled it out and found a lighter inside and took one. He never smoked but being around the garage made him crave them sometimes as the others took their breaks. “I offered him a ride, but he didn’t want it…I think it was just the cold.”

“I see…” she said, sounding concerned. “Would you like to bring him over and I can make him some something?”

“I’ll ask, he’s sleeping now,” Itachi explained, setting his phone down a moment so he could light the cigarette.

“Deidara,” Mikoto began, sounding thoughtful, “is uncomfortable being around families, isn’t he?”

Itachi paused for a moment, resisting the urge to cough from the smoke entering his lungs. He thought about the dinner they had last night and glanced through the window at Deidara’s prone lump on the bed. “I think so, un,” he said in a soft voice. “Deidara doesn’t have one, I don’t think. Just friends, and everyone kind of keeps to themselves.”

Mikoto made a noise she often made when she was nodding, thinking things over. “I’ve been thinking about him,” she said finally. “He looked so sad last night.”

“Did he?” Itachi asked in surprise.

“Yes, he did,” she said sadly. “I thought at first it was because he would miss you staying with him, but when I thought about it later, it was only when…when we spoke. You and I. He had a worried expression when he thought I would be angry… He brought those pictures to try and make me happy as if he thought you needed to convince me of what you had been doing. It made me wonder if he didn’t have anyone to look out for him. His parents? He told me he lives alone, but he’s so young.”

“He does live alone,” Itachi said softly. “I don’t think he has any parents. I thought he just felt uncomfortable, like he was taking away from our reunion…”

“Oh, I think he was too, but I think seeing it made him sad. He’s such a good boy, I know your father didn’t like him because he has problems with the law,” she added, making a noise between a scoff and a laugh. “I can’t help but think he was sad last night because he saw something he didn’t have.”

Itachi turned again to stare at Deidara, remembering how angry he’d been after he called his mother. ‘Of course’, he had said, bitter and angry when he told him he could go home, his frustration bubbling out of him. 'You’ve got all kinds of shit going for you and family that cares about you, why would you want something like me messing that up?' Itachi felt his chest tighten suddenly. Where was Deidara’s parents? Why had he been living under Daichi’s eye for ten years? “He…never told me,” he said quietly, remembering ages ago when Deidara told him his mother used to live in one of the expensive houses on the other side of the city.

“If he wants to, you bring that boy over,” his mother said firmly. “Let me know if you’re going to stay with him.”

“Okay, mom, I will,” he agreed, hanging up the phone and feeling suddenly miserable. Of course, Deidara had scoffed. Of course he had a mother who would accept him back. Where was Deidara’s mother then? Daichi wasn’t old, but he also wasn’t that young. If Daichi had taken him in, why couldn’t he have been a parent to Deidara? Instead he let him crawl home in agony and left him on the cold ground. And here he was, perfect fucking Uchiha Itachi with his grades and car and he thought having a shitty father balanced out everything that seemed too perfect about him. No, it didn’t. It was just a fact. He had a shitty father and worked hard to be a good student, but his mother loved him no matter what and wanted him to come home when he went missing for so long and never called. Here was Deidara, seventeen and taking care of himself alone with no one to help him, no one to take care of him when he was sick or hurt. Ten years, Rin and Daichi kept saying. He had been seven years old when he had come to them. How many of those ten years had Deidara been taking care of himself?

He felt like shit now.

He returned to watch the blond sleep for another few hours, completely still except for the gentle rise and fall of the blankets. Itachi’s stomach growled, but he ignored it, content to stay longer. He didn’t want to wake the blond up, happy to finally be able to see Deidara still. He had seen him, slept with him, but he never really got a chance to study him before. Whenever he was asleep, it was night in the bunks where its occupants made it as dark as possible with newspapers and pillows in the windows to keep out the light and night air. It was still bright outside and Deidara was dead to the world, so there was no need to worry about someone catching him staring at him. Fingers traced over his soft facial skin, feeling each curve, each indent where the bone underneath was set, slightly different from his own. He wondered again what his other half was. His expression darkened a little as he gently touched the purple-blue disfiguration on the side of his face where he’d had his face smashed into a car. He wanted to beat the man who did this into a bloody pulp.

6:30 rolled in and Itachi’s stomach growled again. He was growing hungry, but he thought he’d be able to last a bit longer. An image of Deidara’s grouchy face when he woke up hungry came to mind, causing him to grin, but also stand up and stretch, thinking better of the no food situation. He stepped out into the hallway and walked down the stairs to sit out on the front porch. He used his phone to look for restaurants nearby and ordered delivery, unsure of what to get him, so he got a lot of random appetizers and noodles. While he waited, he called his mother to tell her Deidara was still asleep and he was getting food for the two of them, then smoked another cigarette. It didn’t taste the same as it smelled when Deidara smoked nearby.

The delivery man looked skeptical when he arrived and got off his car, taking the bag of take out in his hands and walking as if he wasn’t sure if he was being tricked into being mugged or not. Relieved when he saw Itachi, he handed the food over and had the money shoved into his hands. Itachi started to turn when he noticed Daichi’s Z parked down the street. Frowning, he turned and went back up the stairs, ignoring the curious faces that peeked out to investigate the strange person who had pulled up outside to deliver food. No one would ask for some from him like they might from each other. Itachi was a stranger to them, and different enough that he scared them a little.

Daichi was standing on Deidara’s landing, hands shoved into his coat pockets with a thoughtful look on his face as he stared at the door. He had the air of someone who had just gotten yelled at by their parents for teasing their sibling and was being made to apologize. Remembering Rin’s face when they arrived, Itachi realized that was probably exactly what happened. Itachi glared at the mechanic. Being told off by his wife didn’t seem like a good enough punishment. Daichi was just reaching up to knock on the door when he noticed Itachi. He looked down at him, his pierced eyebrow raised as he seemed to contemplate Itachi’s expression.

“Why are you looking at me like that for?” he asked, his hand going back into his pocket.

“He’s hurt,” Itachi replied, stepping up the last few steps to be on the same landing.

“Yes?”

“Why didn’t you help him last night?” Itachi demanded.

Daichi frowned slightly, shifting his weight from one foot to another, sensing a fight. “He knows how I feel about his lifestyle,” Daichi replied unapologetically. “He knew I wouldn’t when he asked me.”

“What if he’d been seriously hurt?” Itachi growled, anger rising. “Like I had been? You left him on the floor—it was fucking freezing last night. He could have died.”

“That’s why I’m here,” Daichi said reproachfully. “I’m checking on—”

Itachi moved between him and the door as he took a step closer. “Don’t bother. Anything fatal would have happened last night,” Itachi glared. “You know, after someone jumped him on his way home from my house and nearly beat him to death.”

“What?” Daichi demanded, eyes wide in shock. He looked passed him at the door again, a new look crossing his face as he took another step but Itachi moved in his way again. “Move,” he growled at him, the usual calm expression on his face slipping away to anger.

“No,” Itachi reproached, looking incredulously at him. “You should have helped him when he asked you. Maybe he wouldn’t have had such a hard time today when he still went to school, despite that he could barely walk and was still bleeding after you left him on the floor of the garage. You don’t actually care, so don’t pretend you do.”

“Hey,” Daichi snapped, grabbing Itachi’s arm as he turned away. “Why do you think I’m—”

“Because Rin yelled at you?” Itachi shot at him, yanking his arm out of his grasp. “Would you have bothered if your wife hadn’t scolded you? Give me a break.” He opened Deidara’s door and shut the door in the mechanic’s startled face. He locked the door in case Daichi tried to follow him in and exhaled slowly to calm the anger boiling up in him down. He turned when he heard stirring behind him and smiled at the blond who looked exhausted, but happy to see a bag of food in his hand. Itachi went deeper into the room, helping him sit up sorely so he could eat, deciding not to tell him about Daichi’s visit as they ate their dishes.


	15. Chapter 15

Itachi was unable to convince Deidara to go back home with him so he spent the night with Deidara to make sure he was alright. After eating, the blond went to sleep again and Itachi curled up under the blankets with him to stay warm. In the early morning before school, though he tried to convince him to change his mind, Itachi drove Deidara to the garage to get his bike. Daichi looked up, brows creased as he assessed the blond without asking him if he was alright. When asked what he was doing with the bike, Deidara told the truth that he was going to drive the bike off a cliff to the shocked silence of the garage. The deed was done rather unceremoniously from the highest cliff from one of the sharp curves along the mountain side. Itachi had asked if he wanted to give it a proper send off since it had been such a beloved possession, but Deidara just said the thing was dead to him now and sent it over the edge.

Deidara watched it crash without regret. It probably would have been better to sell the motorcycle, it would have been worth a lot of money, but it felt more satisfying to destroy the thing. He had woken up sore and stiff, but his back felt much better though it still was uncomfortable to wear jeans and had opted for layers of soft fabric instead. It was much more comfortable, even though Itachi commented that, with his hair piled up, he looked like a foreign girl with his leggings and layers of thick, asymmetrical sweaters. Deidara promptly told him he didn’t care. He had woken up with a cold and finally agreed to go to Itachi’s house to let Mikoto take care of him. Itachi taking the turns expertly, they began their drive back down the mountain to civilization. Deidara didn’t speak until they reached the bottom.

“I didn’t say anything dumb last night, did I?” he asked, folding his arms as he leaned back in his seat. A little smiled appeared on Itachi’s face and he shrugged in response. “Seriously. I didn’t say anything embarrassing or…or something I wouldn’t normally say, did I, un?”

“Why are you so worried about it?” Itachi countered, turning onto the main road that would take them into the city.

“Cause I don’t remember and I might have said…I don’t know, un!” he cried, his voice rough from the combination of screaming himself hoarse and sleeping on the floor of the garage. He slammed his fists down on his knees. “Seriously, why aren’t you telling me? What did I say?”

“You might have something on the lines of…you really, really like me, but I could have been imagining that,” Itachi said, the grin widening as he shrugged again.

“Yes, I think you imagined that one, un,” Deidara said, making it sound like all one word with how fast he said it, feeling his face heat up.

It was driving him insane. More insane than usual. Sure, he’d woken up in places he didn’t remember going to while under the influence, but he’d never been around someone who didn’t make fun of what he said or did during that time. Now that his motorcycle was destroyed and he was able to think of something else, he was beginning to grow worried that he had said something really bad last night. That was bad. He had no intention of ever admitting to anyone that he was falling for Itachi, that he enjoyed his company even though he was dull as bricks sometimes. He had a reputation after all. He enjoyed his freedom after all. He put himself first. Always. How else was he supposed to survive? He didn’t give a shit about anyone else. It was that simple and not only saved himself from being in uncomfortable positions, but also saved himself from the annoying heart aches and depressing states he had seen people in after proclaiming love and affection, or being crushed by the anvil of rejection. He’d felt that anvil once before and had no intention of feeling it again. The rejection of that person was one of the most painful things he had ever experienced.

“Want to play the question game?” Itachi asked.

“What’s the question game?” Deidara asked, pulling his feet up onto the seat, happy for the subject change.

“It’s a game where I get to ask you any question I want and you have to answer it truthfully,” Itachi explained. “Then you get to ask me a question and I have to answer it too.”

Scrunching his nose up, Deidara gave him a look. Itachi wanted to pry and was making a failed attempt to be sneaky about it. He was damn sure there was no such thing as the question game and Itachi had just made it up so he could get information out of him. “What kind of question, un?” he huffed at him, not exactly wanting to admit cowardice.

“Any question you want,” Itachi replied. “Though, if you refuse to answer a question you have to remove an article of clothing.”

“What if I’m out of clothes, un?”

“Then I pull this car over and do illegal things to you in the back seat,” Itachi replied. How he could manage to say something like that without cracking a grin was beyond Deidara. The Uchiha was the king of monotone when he wanted to be.

“And if I refuse?”

“We skip to the last part,” Itachi responded, shrugging again. “It’s not that bad. Here, I’ll start. What’s your favorite color?”

“…Green,” Deidara replied, leaning against the door to watch him in case he did something he didn’t like.

“Your turn.”

“Um...What is…your favorite place, un?” Deidara asked.

“Up there,” Itachi said with a smile, pointing back at the mountain they had come down. “You’re not fully Japanese, what’s your other half?”

“My mom is German,” Deidara said. “I got her coloring, un. What’s your least favorite food?”

Itachi looked sheepishly before answering. “Crunchy peanut butter,” he replied, grinning a little as Deidara laughed aloud. “Who is your favorite person in the world?”

The question was innocent, like someone hoping the answer would be themselves, but it silenced Deidara’s laughter and he glanced out the window to watch the passing buildings, wondering if the question was worth removing a piece of clothing over. “…My little sister,” he finally replied, almost inaudibly.

“You have a sister?” Itachi asked in surprise.

“One question at a time,” Deidara smirked, though Itachi hadn’t officially made that part of the rules.

“It’s a follow up question,” Itachi frowned.

Deidara’s smirk widened. “What’s your most embarrassing moment?” he asked quickly.

Itachi frowned at the road ahead as he pulled into his street. “I don’t have embarrassing moments,” he said. “How old is she?”

“She’s turning five soon, un,” Deidara told him, getting out of the car when he parked.

Itachi stared at him intently as they walked into the house, but Deidara didn’t offer up anything else. He didn’t want to talk about his parents or family to Itachi. It didn’t matter now. Didn’t affect him in anyway. He was saved from any more questions when Mikoto hounded him onto the sofa where he was instructed to stay and get better while she fussed over him. He had been confused at first, but Itachi whispered when she went to make tea that he had told her that he was sick the day before instead of the truth. He tried a few times to get up, but Mikoto instructed him to stay on the sofa or she’d tie him down.

“You are sick, young man,” she chided, feeling his forehead with the back of her hand. “No school for you today.”

“I can’t really miss school,” Deidara started to argue, which was true, he’d been given a very firm lecture in the office the day before, but Mikoto shook her head.

“You have a slight fever,” she insisted, pulling out her cellphone. “I will call the school to let them know you’ll be absent.”

“I thought that had to be a parent or guardian,” Deidara commented, glancing up as Itachi came down the stairs in his fresh school uniform.

She raised an eyebrow at him curiously, kneeling down next to him. “I assumed you were an emancipated teen,” she commented. “Who is your guardian? I’ll call them to let them know.”

“What’s an emancipated teen, un?” he asked in confusion.

“It means you are your own guardian, even though you’re a minor,” Itachi explained, pulling his coat on over top of his school jacket.

“Oh,” Deidara said, sitting up a little with a frown. “No, I doubt anyone would let me be in charge of myself.” Mikoto handed him her phone, firmly telling him to call whomever was his official guardian. Deidara cringed a little at the phone, unsure if Daichi would actually help him. He watched Sasuke join Itachi at the door and the two of them abandoned him to Mikoto and her motherly care. With no more buffer, he had to dial Daichi’s cellphone.

“Hello?” came Daichi’s voice, cautious from the unknown number.

“Uh, hey Daichi,” he replied, instantly handing the phone to Mikoto.

“Hello?” MIkoto said, standing now that she had the phone and went down the hallway to the laundry room. Deidara crawled across the sofa to peer in curiously. “This is Uchiha Mikoto, Itachi’s mother…Yes, I just wanted to let you know that Deidara has a bit of a fever and I think it would be best for him to stay home from school today…Yes…Yes, I checked,” she laughed a little. “I’m sure he isn’t faking. His bike? No, Itachi brought him over in his car.” Deidara listened intently, trying to hear Daichi’s side of the conversation. “No, no, not at all, I already planned to stay home today to do some work, so I don’t mind taking care of him. Alright, thank you very much,” she said, ending the call and walked back to the living room where Deidara ducked back behind the sofa.

“Daichi said he would call the school,” she told him, coming to the sofa with the thick comforter she brought from the laundry room. She spread it over him and sat down on top of it, careful to not sit on his legs. “Daichi is the mechanic that Itachi was working with, isn’t he?”

Deidara nodded. “I work for him sometimes too, un,” he said, wondering how much Itachi had told her.

She smiled at him, reaching over to stroke his hair off his face in a gesture he had seen her do to Itachi a few times. He resisted the urge to pull away from her. “You’re working so hard,” she commented, patting his cheek.

“Not really,” he admitted, feeling his face heat up a bit.

“Does this hurt?” she asked, eyeing the bruise on the side of his face.

“Not really,” he repeated. “I just got in a fight with someone, un.”

She gave a small nod and gave his cheek a gently pat. “I’m going to make you some more tea and soup. You’re welcome to watch TV, but I’d like you to stay on the sofa and get some rest.”

Deidara watched her get up and go into the kitchen, lying back as he curled up under the blanket. He had never had someone take care of him when he was sick before. Usually, he just had to ride the thing out until he was well enough to go out. If he was hungry, he had to walk down to the conbini himself to get food. Now, here he was curled up on a sofa with hot tea and chicken noodle soup being brought to him with a plate of crackers to snack on. Mikoto smiled down at him warmly as she handed him a little cup of medicine, telling him it would help his throat, and then went back into the kitchen. He heard her move into the dining room to sit down at the dining room table. He wondered what she was doing, but decided he’d find out later. For now, he ate the soup and drank the tea while he watched a home network channel, then curled up to happily take a nap instead of forcing himself to go to school.

When he woke up again, the tray she had brought him was gone and his throat hurt much less. He sat up and slowly stretched his back, the bandages on his back tightening slightly. Maybe he could get Itachi to change them when he came back from school. Blanket wrapped around himself, he wandered into the dining room where Mikoto sat with her laptop and papers spread neatly around her.

“Hey,” she greeted, removing her glasses. “Did you sleep well?”

He nodded, sitting at the table too. “Thanks,” he said, glancing down at the things around her. “What are you doing, un?”

“Oh, just working,” she said with a smile. “I had a few phone meetings with my lawyer today so I decided to work from home.”

“I didn’t know you had a job,” Deidara said, slightly surprised.

She laughed lightly. “As hardworking as Fugaku was, police work does not make the money our family runs on,” she said. “I am the head accountant of the Uchiha family. I manage most, if not all of the branches of the Uchiha’s finances and investments.”

“Whoa,” Deidara commented, glancing down at the paper. “So you’re the reason the Uchiha’s are so rich, huh?”

“Currently, I suppose,” she said, grinning. “My family has always been rather enthusiastic about money.”

“Your family?” Deidara asked, tilting his head to the side.

“Oh yes,” she sipped her tea a little. “Uchiha is my family name, not Fugaku’s. I believe he is technically part of the Uchiha family branches, but very distant. Uchiha’s are historically neurotic about marriages and keeping the name strong.”

Deidara hmphed in surprised and wrapped the blanket tighter, watching her use her pen on the calculator next to her. “Itachi says I’m good at algebra, but I don’t really like doing math, un,” he commented to fill the silence.

“No one likes doing math, dear,” she said, setting her pen down and getting up to make more tea. “But problems are interesting sometimes, that’s why algebra is fun.” She brought him a mug of tea and sat down again.

“I read Itachi’s calculus book,” he told her, suddenly craving praise Itachi sometimes gave him. “When he was staying with me, un. Seemed pretty straightforward and easy. I don’t think teachers explain math really well, un.”

She grinned at him over her mug, eyes dancing in humor. “Would you like to see how math can be applied to money?” she inquired.

When Itachi and Sasuke came home from school – Itachi after working at Daichi’s while he waited for Sasuke to finish soccer practice, Deidara was still at the table. He had been observing curiously as she worked, doing his own math homework with new vigor after Mikoto explained how to apply the formulas to real life. It was still rather boring to him, but each time he completed a page felt like a triumph over people who told him he was too stupid for things, swelling with pride when she praised him. When her sons walked in Mikoto had finished her work and was making dinner, but Deidara had fallen asleep at the table. At his mother’s gesture, Itachi gently lifted the blond up and carried him up the stairs to his bedroom.

The blond stirred with a small noise of discomfort when he shifted his grip on his back and Itachi set him down gently on the bed. “Hey,” he said softly as Deidara cracked his eyes open. “Mom wanted me to take you to bed.”

“Oh, hey,” the blond mumbled, his arms sliding out of the blanket to rub his face. “What time is it?”

“About five,” Itachi replied, gently pushing his hair off his face. “How do you feel?”

“Like a baby being put down for a nap, un,” Deidara said, rolling out of his arms onto the bed to stretch slowly.

“How’s your back?” Itachi asked, watching him carefully.

“Sore, but okay,” he said, sitting up sleepily. “Maybe it’s time t—”

Itachi laughed softly. “Mom wont let you go,” he told him. “You’re not 100% and she’s almost ready to adopt you.”

“Yeesh,” Deidara commented, “better leave now through the window.”

“Nope,” Itachi said, catching him and pulling him into his lap, still half bundled into the spare blanket. “Your fever is down, at least,” he commented, placing his hand on the blond’s forehead. “I think mom wants you to rest a bit more, but,” he said, flopping back down on the bed, dragging Deidara down with him. “If you rest now, we can sneak out tonight and go up to the mountain,” he whispered in his ear, grinning as he shivered.

“Stop that,” Deidara muttered, rubbing his ear a little.

He tried to repress the grin that threatened to spread across his face, happy that he was able to find one of the blond’s buttons. “What do you say?” he asked, resting his head down on the pillow. “Take a nap, later tonight when everyone’s asleep we’ll sneak out, grab some dinner and go up the mountain?”

“On that date you keep hinting at, un?”

“You’re the one who keeps calling it a date,” Itachi reminded him. His arms wrapped tighter around him, rubbing his nose against the back of Deidara’s neck. “But I’d be happy to call it a date.”

Deidara was silent for a few moments, then rolled onto his back. “You know I never go passed a first date,” he told him, once again trying to dissuade him from wanting to ask him from spending time with him, of dating him officially.

“My studies in psychology tells me you’re afraid of commitment,” Itachi commented, lifting his head up to look at him better. “You’re not going to convince me that I don’t want to spend more time with you.”

“I’m not scared of anything,” Deidara countered, his nose turned up in indignation.

“Deidara?”

“Hm?”

“Will you go out with me?” Itachi asked quietly, reaching up to gently brush his cheek. He felt it heat up under his finger as Deidara made a few embarrassed noises.

It took a few moments, but Deidara finally turned his face away from him and mutter, “sure.”

Itachi beamed and leaned down to press his nose against Deidara’s cheek, kissing him happily. “Want to sneak up to the mountain tonight?”

“Fine.”

“Okay, later,” Itachi smiled, leaning down to kiss his cheek. “Go back to sleep.”

Deidara scoffed and rolled back over, pulling the heavy comforter over his head. Itachi smiled at him and gave his rump an affectionate pat as he got up and slipped out of the room to go downstairs. It had been a long day, knowing Deidara was with his mother and he had to stay in school. He had wanted to come straight home, but Sasuke had practice and so he had gone to the garage to work while he waited. He had been worried that Daichi would be angry at him for the way he spoke to him the day before, but the blue haired mechanic had only asked if Deidara had actually destroyed his bike as he had stated that morning. Itachi had nodded in response, but Daichi hadn’t said anything else, simply looking deep in thought as he sat on the sofa, watching his crew work.

He helped clean up Deidara’s homework from the dining room table and talked to his mother about his day, which was uneventful. He had indicated that it was a secret, but he felt guilty about going anywhere – or just going somewhere, without his mother knowing, so he told her that he and Deidara were going out that night. She looked a little apprehensive, but Itachi quickly told her that if Deidara was forced to stay in bed longer, he was more likely to sneak out and walk back to his house, so she sighed and asked him to look after the blond.

After dinner, homework finished and family heading to bed, Itachi slipped upstairs and gave Deidara a light shake to wake him up. Deidara pulled his hair back up into the messy bun that had fallen in his sleep and followed him out to his car where they climbed in and drove out through the city towards the familiar roads to the mountain side, talking about cars and the customers that sometimes appeared in Daichi’s garage. They stopped for burgers then went as high as they could before Itachi pulled right up to the guard rail so they could see the city below. When he sat down on the hood of his car, the city laid out before him appearing both smaller and bigger than it appeared from the ground. From the ground the city appeared huge and spread out, taking time to get from one side to the other with areas he had never visited before. From here, it looked small and cramped, amazing that there were places he had never driven to. The lights twinkled up at them, but didn’t entirely pollute the air from seeing the stars coming out as the moon beamed down at them. He had a shadow on his car from its nearly full light.

Deidara was climbing up onto the hood next to him, folding his arms over his knees while he ate the remainder of his fries from their dinner. In the dark, Sasuke always said Itachi looked like a murdering ghost, his skin pale enough to catch the moonlight. Deidara’s pale features seemed to glow in it moonlight. Skin paler than is own, it seemed to give off a blueish hue in the natural light unhindered by the artificial city lights. Itachi’s eyes went to the loose strands of hair, already falling out of the messy bun, catching the moonlight just as much as his skin. He reached out to touch the strands, so well kept by their owner who held still for Itachi while he played with his hair. His pale blue eyes were darker without the sun shining on the, but just as bright, watching him curiously.

Soon he wouldn’t be able to see them every day. Soon he’d be going away to college and he would have to leave Deidara behind. He’d finally gotten him to go on a date with him, finally got him to stop being angry at him and spend time with him. Finally started getting to know him. Finally gotten him to say yes. Finally. But now every day was taking him closer to university and Deidara would be here alone and who would take care of him if something happened again? He had emailed the university Deidara had pulled out, letting them know he had decided on their school and would be able to move in on the appointed day at the end of June. Barely a few months left with him.

Itachi sighed in irritation, laying back on the windshield. School had been everything until he had met Deidara. “I’m going away and you’re going to go back to all your customers and I’m going to be buried in books, jealous over a bunch of old assholes,” he grumbled aloud.

“Oh, please. You’ll find some weirdo or something to date in that college and forget all about me, un,” Deidara said, rolling his eyes.

Itachi turned to stare at him with an incredulous look on his face. Forget him? How could anyone forget Deidara? “Impossible. Besides, I only just got you to go out with me,” Itachi said, reaching into his pocket to pull something out and drop in his lap. “So I got you this.”

Deidara picked up the object, in surprise, giving Itachi a startled expression as he looked it over. “…I already have a phone, un,” he told him, tilting his head to the side as he turned it around in his hands. Its case was green.

Itachi didn’t answer, watching him with a smile and waiting patiently. The blond looked annoyed at his patience, but finally looked at it again. Itachi knew he had a phone, but it was cheap and he barely kept it stocked with minutes. This one was new and far more modern than the thing Deidara called a phone. Itachi watched him notice the little bird charm hanging from the case and his lips twitched into a grin. He turned the phone on and watched it load.

One Message Received.

His eyebrow raised in question as he read that, but Itachi still waited patiently. Deidara rolled his eyes and opened the message, which was a video message that he started.

The screen was black for a moment before Itachi appeared on the screen, sitting in his car.

“Hey,” the him on the screen said. “So, if you’re watching this, you should be feeling better and we’re up on the mountain and I gave you this phone. With me going so far away, we won’t get to see each other very much. I’ve gotten kind of used to see you almost every day and I’m not sure I’ll be able to stand it. You’re a bad influence, you know? I’ve never hated school until I met you. I got this phone for you so if you want to talk or see me or anything, you can do it. This phone can do video messages and all. Not sure your current phone can do that.” Itachi brushed his hair back off his face before continuing, “I…I really will miss you. My life was pretty dull until you came along. You really are great you know.” He smiled at them then reached up to end the video.

Itachi waited while Deidara sat in stunned silence. His face was heating up in embarrassment, but Itachi could only barely see it. Deidara blackened the phone’s screen and began to roll it in his hands, staring off to the side to avoid looking at him. He knew people gave Deidara gifts all the time, trying to win his favor, but this hadn’t been one of those and he hoped Deidara realized that. He just wanted to be able to see him, to speak to him as regularly as they had that winter. He wasn’t trying to take him for a good fuck and leave him somewhere alone. He watched Deidara swallow and open his mouth to speak but closed it again. Being untrustworthy and growing up with untrustworthy people, Deidara expected him to be untrustworthy as well, but Itachi wasn’t like that.

“I don’t want you to go, un,” Deidara finally whispered, barely audible.

Itachi smiled sadly and wrapped his arm around Deidara shoulder, drawing him closer. “Will you send me videos?” Itachi asked.

“Yeah,” the blond replied. “I’ll visit too, un.”

“How?” Itachi asked with a frown. “You destroyed your bike.”

“I’ll figure it out.”

“Don’t skip school to do it.” Deidara’s embarrassed, shy expression turned irritated instantly. “Deidara…” he said, exasperated. “You’re so smart, you just don’t like the work. You’ve been doing so well, you’ll senior next year.”

“So?”

“So you’re smart enough to go to college if you tried, Deidara,” Itachi said firmly.

“Ew, I am not going to college,” Deidara said, sounding offended he even suggested it.

“I didn’t say you had to, just you could,” Itachi said with a sigh. “I’ll make a deal with you. If you graduate high school, and take a few classes at college… something you will like not stuff you have to take like high school, I’ll buy you whatever car or motorcycle you want, and put it in your name with no holds barred.”

Deidara sat up and gave him an incredibly skeptical look. “Where are you going to get the money to buy me whatever I want, un?” he finally demanded, arms crossing tightly.

“Well, my family is really rich for one, but I’m also going to school in a field that makes a lot of money,” Itachi told him. “It might take me a while, but I’ll do it. Also, I think it’d be a nice punch in the nuts to all those people who assume you wouldn’t make it through high school. Remember my father saying you couldn’t pass basic math?” Itachi laughed aloud, drawing him closer, planting a kiss on his temple. “And you were sitting at the dining room table doing applied algebra and chemistry.”

Deidara made a smug sound, but didn’t say whether or not he would actually do it. He’d consider it at least. He leaned back to force the two of them to lay down on the hood of his car, the blond staring up at the stars, but Itachi was only interested in staring at him. “Hey, Deidara?” he began, keeping his arm wrapped around his shoulders. “You know all about my fucked up family…Why do you live with Daichi?”

The blond stiffened in his arms. He’d been so relaxed and in the blink of an eye he was on edge like he’d run. Itachi knew he didn’t like to talk about it, but he wanted to know about him. He wanted to know not just who he was now, but who he was. Half expecting him to change the subject, Itachi waited, watching him stare up at the night sky. To his surprise, Deidara heaved a sigh and turned his head away from Itachi.

“My mom…met my father in Germany and she came here with him and got married. Mom has a really big family, lots of sisters and cousins and everyone has a lot of kids. Lots of girls. My mom always wanted a girl, but my father didn’t want any kids at all. He just wanted mom. Then they had me and they were both disappointed, un. She didn’t want a boy and didn’t know what to do with me, sometimes when we went back to Germany to visit family, she would dress me like a girl and pretend I was a girl, but otherwise ignored me. I guess I was hard to deal with and she just got tired of me being a shitty kid, un.” He paused a moment and chewed on the inside of his cheek. “When I was seven, she left me on a bench outside of a café in the middle of downtown – a block or so away from that café Daichi and Rin live in now. She didn’t want me, and I knew it. She just didn’t want a kid like me, un. She told me to wait for her there…but she never came back. That was before Daichi and Rin were dating. He wasn’t as settled as he is now. Running from cops by night, fixing cars by day. He took me in…” a grin spread over his face despite the look of horror on Itachi’s face. “I ran away four times, un. Daichi was such an asshole back then, but I had nowhere to go. I had never been to that part of the city before and it took me a while to find my way back. By the time I got back home, my parents had moved, un. So I stayed with Daichi, and here I am.”

Itachi’s mouth had fallen open, horror overwhelming him at the story. Deidara glanced over at him, then looked away. “I know, it’s stupid,” he muttered. “But I do like my mom, I don’t really know what I should have done different, un. Daichi hates her.”

Seeing the sad expression on Deidara’s face, remembering that Deidara had said he had a little sister who was nearly five now, Itachi agreed wholeheartedly with Daichi. He thought about the expression on Deidara’s face when his mother rushed to hold him, to fuss over him, how awkward the blond felt when his mother treated him so kindly. “I don’t know what to say,” Itachi finally said, tearing his eyes away from Deidara to look down at the city.

“You don’t have to, un,” Deidara said, shrugging against him. “It’s not really that big of a deal anymore.”

Yes, it was. Itachi resisted the urge to say that aloud. Deidara wouldn’t look at him until Itachi reached over to turn his chin towards him. “I won’t do that to you,” Itachi told him.

Deidara gave a soft laugh and let his head drop to Itachi’s shoulders. He didn’t believe him, but he hoped he was able to prove him just by doing so. He couldn’t imagine what sort of horrible person Deidara’s mother was. Sure Deidara was difficult, but Itachi found it endearing and kept him from falling into a dull life of school. He had friends now because of Deidara. His father was arrested and no longer able to hurt him because of Deidara. He played with his hair for a while as they lapsed into silence, but Deidara finally stomped his foot against the hood of the car – Itachi nearly yelled at him for it, but stopped when Deidara sat up, glaring down at him with surprising intensity.

“You’re not going to find someone more interesting and smarter at that school, un,” Deidara said, ferociously. “Because I’m far more interesting than anyone at that stupid school and I’ll blow everyone’s mind with how smart I am, un.”

Itachi threw his head back and laughed, clutching his stomach as his muscles protested. Deidara glared at him for laughing at him, but Itachi sat up and cupped his face to kiss him. “I have no doubt,” Itachi said, still laughing.

“What are you laughing at, un?” Deidara demanded.

“You,” Itachi told him, giving him another kiss. “You’re always adorable when you throw tantrums.”

“It’s not a tantrum,” Deidara grumbled, letting Itachi wrap his arms around him again, happy that Deidara was ready to defend his position as boyfriend from yet faced forces.

Deidara’s phone began to ring. Not the new one, but the old one in his back pocket. The blond didn’t move to get it, so Itachi pulled it out for him and opened it. “Hello?” he said into the phone as Deidara leaned against him comfortably. “Hey, Daichi. Yeah, he’s right here. No…What? Rin’s at the hospital?” Deidara started, sitting upright and staring at him. “Yeah we’ll be right there,” Itachi finished, hanging up the phone. “Rin’s having her baby.”

“What?” Deidara leapt from the car hood. “Where? Lets go, un!”

Itachi nodded and slid off the hood himself. He unlocked the car for them and started the engine up. Of course babies were important, but Deidara looked worried as he backed out of their spot to drift down the mountain side, taking the corners with little regard to the speed limit. He made the turns as sharp and dangerous as he could make them, hand braking and drifting into each hairpin turn. This was his mountain, he knew the road better than anyone he’d ever met. Deidara had wanted to see him drive it, but now he seemed nervous and lost in thought. “What’s wrong?” he asked as they drew closer to the bottom.

“Rin was pregnant before. She had a miscarriage a few years ago, un,” Deidara explained, rolling the charm of his new phone nervously around his finger. “She was really sick afterwards for a while, and Daichi was trying to help her, but he was really depressed too. It was horrible,” he added, glancing at him as if to give more emphasis on his words.

“I can imagine,” Itachi said quietly, staring at the road as he thought of Rin, so kind and happy, taking care of the smaller children at the foster home. The thought of her broken from a loss like that was horrible. Rin and Daichi together, hurt and depressed. He could see the way they looked at each other, the way Daichi would kiss Rin with a smile like she was the world to him. To lose like that and try again. “How long ago?”

“Four years, I think?” he replied. “Rin was in the hospital afterwards for about six months…Daichi was a mess and pissed off at everyone. Now…” He swallowed a little and sank back into his seat. The closer they got to the hospital, the more nervous Deidara seemed to become. Itachi could imagine how worried he was, but when they got to the parking lot, Deidara didn’t move. Petrified in his seat like a statue staring at the dashboard.

“Deidara? We’re here,” he said, confusion littering his voice.

“I know,” Deidara said softly, unbuckling himself and opening the door to get out.

“What’s the matter?” Itachi asked, wondering why the blond’s pace slowed with every step they took towards the automatic doors to the hospital.

“Nothing,” Deidara said, voice an octave higher than normal.

They reached the doors, standing open to welcome them in, but they didn’t cross the threshold. Nothing was obviously something. Deidara was scared. This was no longer fear for his friend’s wellbeing, this was actual fear. A paranoia that stopped him from being with those that needed and wanted him there. Deidara had told him once that he hated hospitals, but he hadn’t realized that he was actually afraid of them.

“Deidara,” Itachi said, stepping in front of him, blocking the nurse who stood at the reception desk, watching them curiously. “Deidara, it’s okay. I’m right here. It’s okay.” He reached out to take his hand, fingers wrapped around Deidara’s shaking ones, gently urging him inside.

Trembling like a frightened child, Deidara stepped into the building, eyes squeezed shut. Ignoring the stares the two of them were receiving, Itachi led Deidara through the lobby to the counter. Itachi glared at the woman trying not to laugh at the two of them. “Where’s the delivery room?” Itachi demanded, angry at her mockery, however she was trying to hide it. Seeing someone like her made him want to delve into her own deepest fears and making live them for days just because she would mock someone else.

“Third floor,” she told him. “The waiting room’s on the left.”

“Thank you,” Itachi snapped at her, so sharply her smile disappeared from her face instantly. They were nearly to the elevator when Deidara stopped all together.

“I can’t,” he whispered in panic. “I can’t, I can’t, let me go, un.”

Itachi wasn’t holding his hand tightly, he could have gotten away if he wanted to. “It’s alright,” he said softly. “It’s alright, Deidara. I’m right here. Nothing’s going to happen to you.”

“I can’t, I’m sorry,” Deidara said, slowly sinking down to squat on the floor. “I can’t, I can’t… I’m sorry, let me go.”

Reaching down, Itachi took his other hand and pulled him back to his feet, walking him into the elevator. He’d never thought he’d see Deidara, the demon motorcycle racer, reduced to panicked tears as he fell back down to the ground gripping his pants leg as Itachi pushed the button for the third floor. Itachi looked down at the blond, hiding his face against his arm. Still holding his hand, Itachi dragged the blond off the elevator and knelt down to his level. “I can take you home if you want,” Itachi said gently, but Deidara was shaking his head.

“No…no, Daichi…wanted me here, un,” he whimpered. “Daichi wanted me here,” he repeated, voice a little stronger. “I can’t go. Shit…”

They were getting even more stares now as Itachi half led, half carried Deidara towards the waiting room, pausing to shush him reassuringly each time the blond stopped walking. A few people went in and out of the delivery room, but no one they knew and Deidara still clung to him. At the door, Itachi waited patiently for Deidara to calm down enough to go on, or tell him what he wanted to do. Itachi hadn’t been to the hospital in a long time. Several months now. He felt so fortunate. He could see how the florescent lights, unnatural white walls, and the stench of depression and death would bring panic to someone. All the beeping and noises and rushing around and nurses smiling even when something bad happened. Doctors telling you they’re sorry for something, but they’re really not sorry. How could someone be sorry when they go on with their lives when you’re out of sight? At least they got paid.

Deidara stood up a little straighter and Itachi finally felt it okay to release him, though he still clung to his hand. Together they went into the waiting room, glancing around at the strangely crowded area. Deidara didn’t look at anyone because he kept his eyes on the floor, intently staring at the linoleum tiles at his feet, but Itachi could see the majority of people there were those that worked at the garage. A few faces he recognized from the apartment, but he didn’t know them as well. Everyone was dead quiet from nerves, shifting around, reading a magazine. It wouldn’t have looked so unnatural to someone who didn’t know these people, but Itachi had never seen them this quiet before. They stared at the two of them, no at Deidara, shocked that he actually came.

“Are you Deidara?” the nurse behind the counter asked, her hair pulled nicely back off her face. “Mura-san is only allowing you back with them. They’d like you to join them.”

People exchanged glances. Even Itachi glanced down at Deidara than back at the woman. Daichi and Rin wanted Deidara back there? Did they forget about his fear of hospitals? Itachi had to practically carry him the entire way here and they wanted him in the delivery room? Deidara had a panicked expression on his face, torn between fear and concern. Itachi squeezed his hand and smiled reassuringly as the blond looked up at him.

“I’ll be right here,” Itachi assured him out loud. “And Daichi’s inside…” That wasn’t much of an encouragement, especially with how Daichi had treated him the other night, but it was the only thing he could think of to say. Like a man walking to his death, Deidara let go of his hand and pulled on a white facemask before following the nurse through the door where she could lead him to the delivery room, the door shutting behind him with a foreboding thud.

White. White. White. White walls. White floors. White coats. White doors. White ceilings. White beds. Beep. Beep. Beep. Monitor’s tones sounding from rooms they passed were like the pulse of the very hospital. If it stayed the same, never ending, never changing, it was good, but listening to them, you wanted something to change. A frantic change. One that signaled a problem. The sounds pounded in his head like a hammer. The hallways were straight, jerking into ninety degree angles with no smoothness at all. Hallways like this were used to learn perspective drawings and vanishing points. Points that disappeared into the horizon. If you turned and looked the other way, it would be the same form of vanishing point, just with a different setting. The walls seemed to extend and stretch on themselves, making the ceiling appear to slowly sink down on his head, mounding pressure than worse the pounding hammers of the beeps. The lights hurt his eyes, reflecting off all the ugly white that made you feel like you were in a haze. The combination of it all was making him dizzy and frantic, feeling off balance like his ears were full of water and he couldn’t hear. His equilibrium was thrown off so much by his panic, he nearly fell over, missing the reassuring hand of Itachi’s that led him to this point. He was nearly at breaking point when a voice broke through his panic, making the building sounds disappear, leaving behind only the steady mechanical beat of life.

“Dei?” Daichi was standing at the door, staring at him in amazement. Deidara blinked at him, worrying he’d throw up if he said anything. “You came?”

He nodded, hands shoved deep into his cardigan pocket. “Yeah,” he murmured, swallowing thickly. “How’s Rin?”

“Nearly ready,” Daichi said, nodding to the nurse. Daichi reached his arm around him, patting his back gently as they walked into the room where Rin laid on the bed, forehead shiny with sweat.

“Deidara, you came,” she murmured. “Even though you were scared?”

“I’m still scared, un,” he admitted, standing aside as the nurse came in to check on her.

Very scared. The white walls, the beeping were starting to irritate him. Daichi sat on the bed next to his wife, murmured softly to her when she had a contraction. When the doctor finally came in and said it was time, Deidara was extremely thankful he had an extra appendage in his pants that meant no baby was coming out of him.


	16. Chapter 16

There are different levels and type of fear. There are fear of spiders, which isn’t always a true fear. Sometimes it’s a simple dislike of spiders. Sometimes it is fear of the dark, but it is a wary feeling of possible danger. There is fear that is irrational and grows to paranoia. There is fear for others, concern mounting passed worry. That was the fear that hung in the air in the waiting room in the hospital. Itachi sat there in the stink of the fear, growing irritated in his worry for his friends. He was neat, but not obsessed with it, but the fact that the wallpaper was exactly aligned to the very millimeter and the picture frames were exactly ten and a half inches apart from each other and the magazines were arranged chronologically by name and then year, perfectly set in the shelf were beginning to drive him insane.

There were fifteen people in the waiting room and none of them were talking. A few were on their cellphones, texting or surfing the net, some were reading the magazines, but most were staring into space. All of them were listening. Listening for some sound on the other side of the door they were forbidden to cross. Itachi didn’t know much about childbirth except it was supposed to be incredibly painful. He had been only five when Sasuke was born and certainly not allowed to be at the hospital. He had been sent to stay with his cousin, though he had gone to the hospital as soon as he was permitted. Going to the hospital to meet his new brother, making the decision that he would be responsible for this that beautiful tiny gremlin was one of his earliest memories. Because of Rin’s previous pregnancy, everyone was nervous. Very few of them had been close to Daichi and his wife during that time, but now they were all such good friends. They owed them in ways they couldn’t give back. No one, Itachi included, wanted to see Daichi or Rin go through a loss again.

They were there for three hours now. No one had said a word to each other, no one looked directly at the door. Itachi wondered if Deidara was okay, stuck in a room by his own friends to experience something so terrifying in a place that scared him. He wished he could go into the room, not to help the Muras, but to comfort Deidara. Their silent, statuesque presence was beginning to make the nurse behind the counter nervous. She kept fidgeting and searching for something to do, unable to look at any of them directly.

Finally, far passed 2AM, the door opened and Deidara stepped out, whiter than a sheet as he walked by the desk and sat down shakily next to Itachi while everyone jumped to their feet, wide eyed to hear some news. Deidara ran his hands through his hair, exhaling feebly. Itachi was staring at him too, wanting news, but Deidara said nothing, causing their worries to escalate until the door opened again and Daichi followed him out, a tiny bundle in his arms.

“My daughter,” he said, holding her so they could see the tiny face in the blankets, but close enough to keep her safe and secure like a tiny glass ball that would break with the wrong touch. “Suki.”

Instant babble broke out. Congratulations, sighs of relief, questions and comments flew at the mechanic as he beamed at them all. “Shut up, she’s sleeping,” Deidara snapped, leaping to his feet and bolting suddenly for the door, unable to stand it anymore.

Daichi smiled after him fondly as he watched him go, then turned to Itachi. His dark eyes were smiling at him as wide as his mouth as Itachi gave him a half smile, remembering the things he’d said before. “How’s Rin?” Itachi asked.

“Tired, but fine,” Daichi told him. He shifted his grip on his daughter and held his hand out for him. “Thank you for bringing him, and making sure he was okay. He trusts you a lot.”

“No problem,” Itachi said softly, smiling at him and shaking his hand.

“Mura,” the nurse said, coming out. “We have to take Suki back to the room now.”

“Tell Deidara I said thanks, and that it meant a lot that he came,” Daichi said, grinning back at Itachi as he followed the nurse back through the door.

Turning, Itachi slipped passed the excitedly chatting people to follow Deidara’s path. He knew Deidara wasn’t going to waste time searching for another way out, so he followed their exact path backwards. At the ding of the elevator, Itachi walked into the lobby with his hands in his pockets, ignoring the nurse at the desk who recognized him and grinned again, seeming to know exactly who he was looking for. He might speak to her supervisor. Honestly.

Deidara was easy to spot as he stepped out of the building. His layers of cotton fabric wrapped tightly around him and his hair falling purposefully from its bun as wisps of smoke rose from him. He was sitting against one of the columns holding up the canopy in front of the hospital doors, under a sign that said ‘NO SMOKING’.

“Hey,” Itachi said, sitting down next to him and pat his thigh softly.

“That was the single most frightening thing I have ever seen or done,” Deidara informed him, offering him a cigarette and lighter, which he took.

“Oh, I have no doubt,” Itachi told him, grinning a little.

“I am never getting a girl pregnant, or forcing her to go through that. Ever.”

“Daichi said to say thanks,” Itachi told him, smiling down at him. “That was cool of you to go in there even though you were scared.”

“Rin and Daichi are my friends,” Deidara countered, cheeks puffed out in his defense at the compliment.

Itachi slid his arm around Deidara, rubbing his shoulder softly as he drew him closer. Deidara didn’t fight it, leaning against him until he stretched a little to lie across his lap. He breathed deeply, seeming to relish any time spent outside of the hospital. Itachi smiled down at him, his hand holding his cigarette resting against Deidara’s. Itachi wondered if he had ever had a friend like this before. His brother was the closest thing he had to a friend, but he knew he still considered himself a big brother, and no matter how close he was to Sasuke, they would always be brothers. His cousin perhaps was a friend, but as children, they were continually pushed to be better than one another. He didn’t really have friends, always alone. Deidara… Deidara never made him feel like he had to protect him, never felt competitive with him except if they played games. Deidara made him laugh and break away from the dry, stoic existence he had been headed towards. He had always been so independent, pushing people away because he believed there was only dependent or independent. Deidara had showed him a balance of both. Deidara helped him without making him feel weak, he stopped his father from being able to hurt him anymore. What had he done for Deidara? His finger’s stroked the back of his hand. Not much, but Daichi had said Deidara trusted him, that he was doing less drugs because of him, he was doing better in school because of him. The blond’s explosive personality didn’t bother him, nor his aggressive nature, nor the arguments or stubbornness. He had found a friendship that was complimentary to his own personality, rather than dominating. His first true friendship and he felt like it was going to be completely over in just a handful of weeks. He’d leave and Deidara would keep finding rich assholes to give him money and they’d hurt him. Maybe he’d find someone who he’d be willing to go out with instead of him. He had no reason to be faithful to Itachi – Itachi had long ago decided he wouldn’t consider the clients cheating if he did agree to go out with him; that was just a job. But how could he expect Deidara to be so patient for someone like him?

He shook his head to clear those thoughts out of his head. He didn’t want that sort of thinking to become a weight on his shoulders. He wanted to enjoy the remaining time with him. “Hey Deidara?”

“Hm?” the blond stirred, shifting so he could look up at him.

“Will you send me your senior picture when you get them?” he asked, pulling the first thing he could think of out of his brain to change the flow of his thoughts.

The expression on Deidara’s face said a big fat ‘no’. “Why? School pictures are stupid and seniors have to wear those stupid nice shirts, un.” He shuddered a little, huffing out a stream of smoke as he did. “Ugh…You really want one?”

“Well, you don’t have to…” he said, shrugging a little. “I just think it’d be nice to have one of you, since I only have a few pictures with you. Plus, I’ve never seen you dressed up before…”

“Fine, I’ll get you one, un!” the blond snapped, giving an aggravated sigh as though Itachi had been badgering him about it.

“You don’t have—”

“I want to, un!” he snapped again, rolling again so that he faced away from him once more.

Itachi couldn’t resist rolling his eyes. Deidara was so cute in the most obnoxious way possible. Itachi still had difficulty understanding his moods and reactions most of the time, but this was one he knew well. Deidara wanted to do something for him, but didn’t want it to be so obvious that he was wiling. He was just like a pet, wanting praise without looking like he’d done anything. Itachi gave it to him with a hug and kiss on top of his head. He felt Deidara smile against his leg. So easy to please.

His mother called not long after, he hadn’t realized how late they had been at the hospital, it was already morning. He told her why they hadn’t come home – she was thrilled to hear about the baby. Mikoto suggested they come back home and sleep since they had been out all day and then, if they wanted, they could join her at the store to buy presents for the baby.

“Do you want to go back to my house?” Itachi asked Deidara, relaying the conversation. “Or yours?”

“Your bed is comfier,” Deidara admitted, rolling over to look up at him with his hand holding his forth cigarette hanging over his head to keep the ashes off Itachi’s clothes. Oh, Deidara, did you know how hot you look when you pose like that? He probably did know, because Itachi had only learned one of Deidara’s weak points, but the blond certainly knew at least five of his.

Itachi patted the blond’s stomach and smiled. “I think Daichi and Rin thought we left, so it should be fine to just go.”

“I’ll drive,” the blond said happily, rolling off him and standing again.

“No,” Itachi responded, imitating his perky voice. He smirked as the blond pouted and turned his back on him, giving Itachi a clear shot at a smack to his butt. The blond jumped and grinned back at him before darting off to find Itachi’s car so they could leave.

Later that afternoon, Mikoto led them through department stores Itachi had vague memories of as a child shopping for his brother. At the time, he was expected to be an obedient child, standing in attentive to help his mother, but today he followed behind her, maneuvering a cart through the aisles with Deidara in it, half buried with baby things. Every time he took a corner, he did it on two wheels, causing other customers to glare at him, but he didn’t care because Deidara yelped and bubbled with laughter each time. His mother didn’t scold them for playing around except to vaguely tell them to be careful and not run into anything or anyone. Deidara had given her the rundown on Daichi and Rin, what they liked, what they probably needed, what sort of parents they would be. During the selection of baby necessities for the new parents, the two boys had grown bored and had begun to take running slides across the longer aisles to see how far they could go with Itachi hanging onto the cart as well. They were being scolded by an older woman when Mikoto found them again, holding extra towels, a baby blanket and a few toys.

“Whoa! Ms Mikoto this is great, un!” Deidara cried, taking the pink remote control race car she had found.

The woman who had been scolding them looked annoyed that Deidara wasn’t more shameful for his actions, but Mikoto didn’t say anything to her except to nod her head politely and steer the two of them towards the rest of the store. “I figure she’ll grow into it,” she said, smiling at him.

“Daichi’ll play with it until she’s old enough,” Deidara told her, grinning back. Itachi had a feeling Deidara would be playing with it too.

“Do you need anything Deidara?” Mikoto asked as they moved to a different section of the department store. “Your jeans are full of holes.”

“I think jeans see Deidara coming and surrender immediately,” Itachi commented. Deidara reached back to swat him.

“Well, you both should have something nice to wear for your graduation, Itachi,” she mused, then raised her eyebrows when both of them protested that they didn’t need anything nice – Itachi arguing he’d be wearing the cap and gown, Deidara that he wouldn’t be caught dead dressed up in school. She sighed and walked passed the clothes aisle and to the cash registers. “You know, I should make a few meals for those two that will keep,” she continued to murmur to herself. The two boys sighed quietly in relief and let her return to fussing over a new baby.

Rin was coming home late in the evening, despite her doctor wanting her to stay in the hospital. She didn’t like the nurses who kept telling her things like her baby should be kept in the nursery instead of in the room with her, and not to let Daichi near the baby until he scrubbed down from work, and also that she shouldn’t be allowed near Daichi’s work until she was an adult. That worked out fine for Daichi who didn’t like the food, though he allowed the nicer of the nurses to berate him for a while on taking care of his wife. The mechanic was not thrilled to arrive home to find his front door lock picked open – Deidara had lied to Mikoto that he had his own key.

“Uh,” Daichi growled pointedly as he stepped into the living room where Deidara and Itachi were sitting at his table. “How did you—”

“Hello, Mr. Mura,” Mikoto called, coming out of the kitchen to greet him and Rin, who looked just as surprised, carrying the baby seat behind him. “Congratulations on your new baby girl! Deidara and Itachi told me, I’m Itachi’s mother, Uchiha Mikoto, nice to finally meet you!” She shook the stunned Daichi’s hand and moved to place her hands on Rin’s shoulders, congratulating her on the birth and cooing over baby Suki bundled up and sleeping.

Daichi snapped his head around to glare at the two boys, Itachi quickly hiding his laugh behind his mug of tea while Deidara frantically tried to communicate silently that this was not his idea and they were brought here at gun point and had no choice. “Just Daichi is fine,” the mechanic said, finally turning back to Mikoto. “You didn’t have to do all this.”

“Nonsense,” Mikoto said, waving her hand. “You’ve helped my Itachi out plenty and I’m happy to return the favor. It’s been so long since my youngest was a baby, it is fun.” She began to rattle off what she had purchased for them, and the food that she had prepared and froze so that they wouldn’t have to worry about food for a little while. The two seemed slightly relieved, despite their initial displeasure at Deidara breaking into their house.

“Look, Daichi,” Deidara said, holding out the remote control pink car. “We found it in the toy section.”

The blue haired mechanic eyed it for a moment then shook his head with a grin. “Nice,” he said, taking it from him. While Rin and Mikoto went to the baby’s new room, Mikoto offering advice to her – far nicer than the hospital nurses, the three men went over the toys and baby things.

“Hey, Deidara,” Daichi said, twirling a large ring of plastic keys in his fingers. The blond looked up from where he’d been sketching a design for a car. “I’m sorry.”

Itachi glanced at Deidara in time to see the ridiculous expression on his face as he stared at Daichi, half afraid half concerned. “What?” Deidara asked as if he wasn’t sure he heard correctly.

“I heard about what happened,” Daichi said, tapping the keys on the table. “I’m sorry…that I gave up on you and didn’t help you when you needed it.”

The blond didn’t answer, but continued to stare at Daichi as if he was worried the mechanic was dying, or pranking him. “Are you feeling okay?” he finally asked.

Daichi glared at him. “Hey, I’m trying to apologize,” he snapped at the blond.

“How did you find out anyway, un?” Deidara asked, holding his pencil out as if it would guard himself.

“I got scolded,” Daichi said dryly, side eyeing Itachi who hurriedly looked away.

Deidara glared at him. “Traitor,” he muttered.

Itachi frowned at him. “Am not,” he snapped. “I was just worried.”

“Anyway,” Daichi said, drawing Deidara’s attention back to him. “You destroyed your bike, didn’t you?” The blond nodded and Daichi narrowed his eyes slightly. “What are you going to race with now?”

It was apparent on the blond’s face that he had not thought that fact all the way through.

Daichi heaved a sigh and shook his head. “I figured, but I get it,” he said, propping his chin up. “So here,” he pulled something out of his pocket and slid it across the table. “I was about to call you when Rin went into labor.”

Deidara picked up the key and looked at it curiously, then at Daichi. “Is this for me to chew on, un?” he asked, nodding to the plastic keys still in Daichi’s hand.

“Shut up,” Daichi smirked, flicking the plastic keys up and catching them. “The other night, I won a new bike in a race. I’ll let you borrow,” he emphasized the word pointedly, “it to race and to visit Itachi so I don’t have to deal with you whining and pining for him when he’s gone.”

Itachi smirked a little and looked over at Deidara smugly. “Pine fo—”

“I wont pine for you!” Deidara snapped, red face saying otherwise. “What the hell gives you the idea that—”

“Oh? I thought you said you didn’t want me to go?” Itachi said casually, leaning away from him in case the blond retaliated. “After you agreed to officially go out with me?”

Daichi’s startled ‘really?’ was drowned by Deidara’s outcry of embarrassment and protest, his ears and face crimson. He even swung his arm out to shove Itachi, but he caught it and dragged him across his lap to pin him down, struggling and protesting that he was going to take back what he said.

“Deidara, shh,” Rin said, coming into the living room with Mikoto. “The baby’s sleeping.”

The blond clamped his mouth shut but continued to try to shove himself out of Itachi’s lap, but the brunette continued to squeeze him against his legs, letting him burn out all of his energy by struggling. The rest of the evening was spent at the Mura’s apartment, Mikoto showing the new parents the food she had prepared and suggestions on things to do to make their lives easier. She also asked questions about the garage and Daichi’s work, since she hadn’t been able to meet him since Itachi started working there. Eventually, Deidara finally wore himself out and begrudgingly let Itachi pet his hair until Daichi and Mikoto brought dinner to the table.

He tried to let the next several weeks stretch to last longer, but they seemed to speed along. Before long it was time to prepare for final exams and he could no longer go out to race or work as much in the garage. He didn’t see Deidara as much as he would have liked since the blond didn’t regularly work for Daichi and was often off doing his own things. Every so often, he found himself putting his pen down and calling Deidara to go for a drive, a reluctance to studying he had never felt before. Deidara never turned him down and relieved much of the stress of graduating and moving away he was feeling with his stories and random babbling of whatever came to mind.

Sooner than he wanted it to come, his graduation came and he found himself standing in his cap and gown, listening to the principle telling the audience about his achievements at the high school. Graduate. Honors. Awards. Full scholarship. Valedictorian.

The last graduation he had attended had been his cousin’s two years before. Shisui had been valedictorian as well. He remembered how his extended family had clapped politely as he walked across the stage to shake the principle’s hand and give his speech. Fugaku had given his uncle an approving nod and congratulating expression then had given Itachi an entirely different one. He would expect nothing less. Nothing less, but more. The Uchiha’s were always working hard to appear better than everyone else, but there was an even worse battle between the various branches of the Uchiha family. Always competing. Always polite, but forever trying to one up each other. Fugaku had pushed Itachi to be better than Shisui, whose father pushed him to be better than Noriko, whose father pushed her to be better than Akiko and so on. It was rather ironic that Fugaku wasn’t here to see him graduate with a little more than Shisui had. Shisui had special art honors, but Itachi had the sports awards, even though he had been unable to finish his last year in basketball. Now Fugaku was in jail with a firm restraining order that kept him away from the house, the high school, and the university Itachi would be attending. His mother and her lawyer had been very thorough to make sure there would be no loopholes her now ex-husband would find to come near her sons.

The Uchihas were here tonight, always polite to praise one another for being better than anyone, but also for the parents to see what their child had to do to be better. There had to be a limit to achievements, but they were determined to go beyond it. The extended family hadn’t seemed happy with his immediate family, but he wasn’t sure if it was just normal competitiveness or if they were angry at him for what happened to Fugaku, someone they all had approved of. Despite this, they all clapped politely as his name was announced and he walked across the stage, just as they had done with Shisui.

Another sound caught his attention, drawing his eyes from the podium as he was approaching.

There was one more thing he had that Shisui hadn’t, one that couldn’t be measured with school awards.

On the right side of the auditorium was a group of people that had leapt to their feet to cheer for him. Daichi, Rin, baby Suki and all the others from the garage and some from the races were there, clapping, cheering, wolfwhistling and calling out to him with Mikoto, Sasuke and Deidara. He did a double take on Deidara. Was he dressed up? In a suit? Holy shit, he was. Itachi distinctly remembered Deidara firmly stating he would not be dressing up, but he had anyway. Throughout the whole ceremony, Itachi had been trying not to look bored, but now he was trying not to grin like an idiot. It was very hard. Especially when all the Uchihas were turning to give the group smoldering expressions of distaste. Itachi could hear their thoughts like a ghost of his own. ‘This is an award ceremony not a sporting event!’ Only six or seven months ago, he would have shared that thought, but now it made him smile, swelling with happiness to see his friends here to cheer him on even though everyone knew he would do well. He spotted Shisui with the Uchihas, grinning over at the group in appreciation before turning back to listen to Itachi’s speech. Shisui had always been a bit of a black sheep.

After he gave his speech, which had been practiced and perfected in front of Deidara who made sure it wouldn’t be ‘so damn boring’, the principle said a few words that were supposed to be inspirational, but sounded more cheesy than anything else. The seniors erupted into cheers, tossing their hats and hugging each other. Itachi slipped passed them all to hug his mother, who showered him with kisses despite his sputtering protests and Deidara, who approached him with his signature lopsided smirk, hands shoved into his pants pocket. Pants. Not jeans. He even had a tie on.

The other Uchihas would have a fit, but he didn’t care. He slid his arms around Deidara’s waist and kissed him. “You look incredibly handsome tonight,” he told him, rubbing his cheek against his as he took a quiet inhale. He smelled good too.

“You don’t,” Deidara informed him, eyeing his robe and hat, which he hadn’t thrown. “That is a hideous look for you. What the hell is this?”

“A tassel,” Itachi said, rolling his eyes as he bat the blond’s hands away from the dangling object.

“Whatever, it looks stupid,” the blond said, rolling his eyes back at him. “Come on, let’s go.”

“What? Where?” Itachi asked, letting the blond tug him through the crowd towards the door. He looked back to try to let his mother know where he was going, noticing Shisui trying to come through the crowd to him, but Deidara already had him out the door.

“Keeping a promise!” Deidara informed him, nudging him towards the blue bike Daichi had been letting him ride and handed him the spare helmet.

Oh, shit. He did have a vague memory of promising to ride with him after school one day. Of course, Deidara would remember that little detail. Now it was night time and he’d be completely blind to the road and the speed. Blind to the surety of death with only trust in Deidara’s skill to keep him alive. He looked at the blond’s wide, mischievous smile, how he’d gotten dressed up just for him. How could he say no?

Taking off the robe and hat, he stuck them in Deidara’s bag and pulled the helmet on, making sure it was tight and secure on his head. “Where are we going?” he asked, climbing onto the back of the bike behind Deidara.

“Party!” the blond called back.

Itachi groaned a little, but wrapped his arms around Deidara’s waist, leaning forward as the blond stood the bike upright and kicked it into gear. “Hm. I could get used to this,” he commented, feeling rather than hearing Deidara chuckle. The blond pulled out of his parking spot and drove around the lot to let Itachi get used to it before going down the street to the front door where people were beginning to stream out. He tried to remain as relaxed as possible as he could while clinging to him tightly. Maybe it looked scary from the side lines or maybe Deidara was just going easy on him. Either way, he still kept his grip tight, hoping and praying that he wouldn’t fall off and die before he could go to college. 

The blond parted the startled crowd and stopped in front of Mikoto, pushing up his visor to grin at her. “I’m taking Itachi out on the town, un,” he told her, giving her a salute. “I’ll take care of him!”

“Be careful, have fun,” she said, waving them off. Itachi thought he heard his cousin calling his name, but at Mikoto’s permission, Deidara peeled away from the school. Yelping, Itachi clung tighter as the blond shifted from parking lot to street, speeding up to slip in between cars exiting the school.

“You sure about this?” Deidara asked when they were finally on solid ground again, sitting next to each other with their stools turned to face one another. The club was noisy around them, music playing, people talking and laughing, but Deidara and Itachi were sitting at the bar with an extensive amount of shot glasses between them, staring each other down with smirks. He had intended only to dance with Itachi, but the brunette had told him he wanted to actually try partying once before starting school.

He watched Itachi pick up the first shot in a mock toast gesture. “Just make sure I get home in once piece,” he told him.

Laughing, Deidara picked up his own first shot and tapped it lightly against the others before tipping the shot back to wash the bitter liquid down his throat. Itachi did the same, slamming the glass down as Deidara did, shuttering violently. Deidara, so used to the taste and feel of alcohol, laughed at the faces the brunette was pulling. They repeated two more each, glaring at each other with amused smirks. Competitive? Of course not. Deidara knew Itachi had absolutely no chance of beating him at a drinking contest, but it would be fun to see how much he could actually take.

Probably not much more, he mused as Itachi swayed a little after their sixth shot, loosening his tie as he did so. “Dance with me?” Deidara crooned, leaning over to slide his hands over Itachi’s thighs as he pouted hopefully at him.

Itachi scoffed at him, taking a sip of the lemon sour he had ordered him before their shots. “It’ll take more than these to get me on the dance floor,” he told Deidara. “Like a lot more.”

“Don’t be silly,” Deidara said, licking the salted rim of Itachi’s glass and sliding off his stool to purposefully brushing against Itachi as he slid passed him to step onto the dance floor. The confining jacket that went with his casual suit was on his stool which made it easier to move as he turned to face Itachi to be sure he was watching him and began to dance to the music. He was pleased to see Itachi staring pointedly at him, lemon sour raised halfway to his mouth, leaning a little closer whenever Deidara moved further away. He could practically see his hand wanting to reach up and touch him even though he was too far away, but he seemed to be resisting. Well, that was no fun. He took a step further into the mass of dancers, people moving to step between them. That got Itachi onto his feet quickly, setting the drink back down and following him to grab onto his swaying hips, glaring at anyone who came near the blond.

“You don’t want me to dance?” Deidara asked.

“Not with anyone else,” Itachi growled as Deidara wrapped his arms around Itachi’s waist to slide his hands down over his ass.

“Dance with me then, un,” Deidara insisted. Itachi froze, seeming to realize how he’d fallen for Deidara’s trap. Everyone did, it wasn’t like Itachi had a choice in the matter. Deidara heard him muttering darkly, but didn’t bother to try and make out what he was saying. The Uchiha would like dancing by the time he was finished with him. “Relax,” he purred in his ear.

Using his grip on his butt, Deidara began to sway with Itachi, forcing his hips to move without the rest of him. It was hard, Itachi stood stone straight with his own arms wrapped loosely around Deidara’s shoulders until the blond slid his hand further under the curve of his ass than should be allowed in public. The Uchiha jumped and gave him a reproachful look, but Deidara just grinned, releasing him to take Itachi’s hands to place at his waist. When they were where he wanted them to be, he raised his arms up and turned, swaying to the music again inside Itachi’s arms. Itachi still didn’t move, but stared down at him as if in a trance. Deidara wanted to laugh at Itachi’s apparent inability to function, but instead, moved Itachi’s hands onto his abdomen, sliding them around to show that he could do with he wanted with them. He heard him groan softly behind him an octave higher than normal as he slid his body up against him. Itachi’s expression didn’t change, which bothered the blond a lot. He couldn’t tell if he was having fun or even if he liked this. Well, that wasn’t quite true. It was quite obvious he liked it every time his hips rubbed up against Itachi’s.

“Itachi,” he finally whined, pouting up at him. “If you’re not going to dance with me, I’ll dance with someone else, un.”

“No,” Itachi said defiantly, gripping him tightly to keep him from moving away. “I’m hot.”

Before Deidara could protest, Itachi dragged him back to the bar, sitting back down again and downing the remainder of his lemon sour and called for another drink. Deidara frowned at him, but Itachi pulled him up onto his lap, drinking two of the shots left behind. He looked embarrassed. Raising an eyebrow, Deidara shifted so he was straddling him and picked up one of the shots. “Relax, Itachi,” he purred, pouring the shot into his mouth then leaning down to kiss Itachi, pushing the liquid between their mouths with his tongue.

Itachi groaned deeply, his hands moving over his thighs and waist before he broke the kiss and looked away. “I can’t,” he muttered, reaching for the new drink set down next to him.

“Sure you can,” Deidara insisted, rolling his hips against Itachi’s. “No one cares what you look like, no one will stare, just let the feeling of the music slide over you, un.”

“Dei,” he whined softly, gripping his hips to keep him still. “I… I need to use the bathroom.”

Deidara rolled his eyes and slid off his lap, leading him to the back where the bathrooms were. “Don’t tell me you have to throw up already,” he said, stepping into the room as dark as the club itself.

“I’m not that bad at drinking,” Itachi said defensively, going into a stall.

Deidara waited a few moments until he realized, glancing down, that Itachi wasn’t actually using the bathroom, but probably trying to calm the raging boner he’d given him. Smirking, he hit the abused lock on the door and forced his way into the stall himself and pushing the startled Uchiha up against the wall. He could barely see him, but the green and orange glow lights showed him Itachi’s startled face before he was kissing him, uncaring about the filth of the club’s bathroom. He’d done worse in grosser bathrooms. 

“This,” he said, breaking the kiss and sliding his hands down to Itachi’s pants, “is your graduation party. You are going to have the best night ever, because I have a reputation to uphold, un.”

Itachi’s stammering protest was drowned in the throb of music that pulsed into the bathroom as he knelt in front of him and unzipped his pants, smirking up at him as he licked up the erection that had grown while he danced against him. Itachi’s hands went to his shoulders than hair, digging his fingers into the ponytail he’d used to tie most of his hair back, unsure whether to hold him in place or guide him as Deidara began using his tongue and lips on him, grinning as Itachi groaned deeply, head falling back against the bathroom stall. His fingers slid up under his shirt to run over his stomach, gripping his sides to pull him deeper into his mouth. The bathroom door outside opened, drowning Itachi’s moans in the loud music that came blasting in.

“D-Deidara,” Itachi finally stammered out in a whisper he could only just hear. “This is a bathroom.”

Deidara hummed in amusement that it had taken him so long to state the obvious, but didn’t stop until Itachi finally came, swallowing back the release quickly to get it out of his mouth as he smirked up at him. Itachi glared down at him indignantly, chest heaving from the panting Deidara couldn’t hear. He stood up slowly, pressing his body against him and nuzzled his lips against his neck. “Dance with me,” he purred into his ear, “and there will be more fun later, un.”

Itachi stared down at him, but Deidara only grinned and slipped out of the stall, leaving Itachi to quickly fix his state to hurry after him. The Uchiha caught him as he reached the dance floor, swaying from the alcohol he wasn’t used to, but finally moving with the blond to the music. The lights were disorienting, as were the arms around him Itachi was using to keep himself steady, but Deidara let it be part of his movements. He loved to dance. It was one of the freest forms of expression he had even experienced. The music set a new rhythm in him that his body couldn’t resist. Even his heart seemed to being pulsing to the over bass from the speakers. Itachi slowly began moving with him, using Deidara’s movements to guide his own. When the lights above them changed, he could see Itachi had an expression of embarrassment at what they’d just done in the bathroom, but also happier and more willing as he guided him. The pleasure buzz and alcohol buzz finally cutting off whatever had been holding him back earlier. When an odd beat came on, they both laughed and moved as strangely as the beat, swinging their clasped hands together as they cheered the DJ on. Finally rushing back to the bar, Deidara called for another round, but the bartender shook his finger at his blond regular.

“Oh, come on!” Deidara called after him. “Its his graduation, un! Let us party!”

“You’ve reached your max, Deidara,” the bartender said, moving to another customer.

Glaring after him, Deidara whirled around to plant a hard kiss on the startled Uchiha. “Watch me,” he told him, smirking as he climbed up onto the counter, the bartender groaning as he saw.

“You are going to fall on your ass, you drunkard!” Itachi called after him, laughing as the blond jumped from the counter to one of the small tables. Itachi could hardly comment on how much he had had to drink as he swayed on his seat, barely managing to stay on, his face flushed from alcohol and dancing, a silly grin on his face.

Deidara gave a dramatic little bow to Itachi and began dancing to several cheers from the onlookers. Everyone’s eyes were on him, but none as intent as Itachi’s whose grin dropped off his face instantly. The crimson eyes that looked like large black orbs from where he was were just staring hungrily at him like a teenager getting his first lap dance and didn’t know what to do but stare. People were calling out for him to strip and he happily obliged, hands sliding slowly over his body, purring to himself though no one could hear. Itachi licked his lips in anticipation. Did he forget he was in public? Not that Deidara really cared, but he didn’t think Itachi was that drunk. With slow movements, he unbuttoned his shirt, starting from the top to work his way down, sliding the fancy shirt Mikoto had bought him off his shoulders. His pale skin glowed blue and red from the clubs lights. People cheered louder, demanding more, but Deidara’s eyes were only on Itachi, smiling slyly at him as he moved his hands to his pants.

“Come on, Deidara, you know we don’t let you do that,” a man in his ear said, lifting him off the table to disappointed boos from the crowd.

Deidara felt like booing too. Stupid bouncer. “You know you liked it too, un,” he accused.

“Whatever Deidara. Where am I dropping you?”

“The handsome gapping fish at the bar, un,” Deidara told him, letting himself be manhandled over to Itachi, sliding up onto his lap. Itachi’s hands instantly went for his exposed torso the moment he was within reach, pulling him close. “Hmm~ You like?” he questioned, twirling Itachi’s bangs in his fingers.

Itachi replied with a groan, tucking his nose into the curve of Deidara’s neck. He didn’t have to say anything, Deidara could feel how much he enjoyed it. A lot.

“What do you say we blow this joint and go back to my place and I can finish my dance for you…in private, un?” Deidara purred, running his tongue up his neck where he nibbled on his earlobe.

“Yes,” Itachi gasped, gripping him tighter.

Deidara pulled his wallet out of his bag and slide a few bills to the bartender, more than necessary to keep him from turning him away since he was underage and grabbed his jacket and shirt. Itachi followed him out into the cool spring air, the blond pulling his shirt and jacket back on as he led him back to his bike. Itachi grabbed him when he reached his bike, crushing him against the brick wall behind the club.

“Why do you always do this to me?” he groaned. “Every fucking time.”

“I just know your buttons, un,” Deidara grinned, returning the kiss Itachi gave him. “It’s too chilly out here, lets go.”

Deidara had driven a motorcycle drunk before, even with a passenger behind him. However, he had never driven drunk with a first time drunk and a first time passenger before. It was very educational for him and he wasn’t going to let Itachi drink that much ever again if they were riding. Halfway home, Itachi had shouted in his ear how much he didn’t like motorcycles because it just felt really dangerous, but he trusted Deidara’s driving completely and had actually let go of him to throw his hands out like he was flying, nearly throwing them off balance. Deidara didn’t think of it until later the next day, but they should have just taken a cab home instead.

“You are a terrible driver,” Itachi commented as he flopped quite ungracefully off the bike when they reached the apartment.

“Am not. You’re just a horrible rider, un!” Deidara corrected him as he parked his bike and turned the engine off.

Together they went inside, Itachi making grabs at Deidara’s ass as they mounted the stairs. Finally, Itachi managed to catch him well enough to drag him back and sling him over his shoulder to carry him the rest of the way as Daichi and Rin came down the stairs from where they had been putting one of the younger children to bed. Deidara grinned sheepishly from over Itachi’s shoulder, but Itachi smirked proudly.

“I am fucked up drunk,” he announced.

Rin and Deidara both snorted out a laugh as Daichi raised an eyebrow in amusement. “Don’t go through the floor you two,” he told them as he led Rin passed them down the stairs.

“Ha! You’re just jealous cause you know we do it better than you, un,” Deidara called after them.

Daichi paused and glanced back at him, arm snaking around Rin’s waist. “Keep telling yourself that,” he said, Rin giggling as he led her down the stairs to go back home.

Deidara snickered as Itachi carried him the rest of the way up the stairs, only stumbling a few times, but thankfully not dumping him down the flights of stairs. Shutting and locking the door behind them, Itachi tossed him onto the bed and practically pounced on top of him, kissing him roughly. “You’re such a fucking tease,” he accused him, mouth moving to his neck.

“You like it,” Deidara smirked, tugging Itachi’s shirt out from his pants and unbuttoning it.

“I can’t believe you did that to me in public,” Itachi growled again, tugging his own shirt off and dragged Deidara’s jacket and shirt off of him.

“Oh you know you loved that,” Deidara cackled.

“No I didn’t,” Itachi grumbled, pulling at Deidara’s tie still around his neck in a playful, yet threatening manner.

“Oh?” Deidara pouted in mock surprise. “Okay then, I wont ever suck your dick again, un.” He pretended to roll away from Itachi, but the Uchiha’s hand came down on the bed next to his face and he was dragged closer to him by his tie.

“That’s not what I meant,” Itachi insisted, blinking as though he were having trouble focusing on his face. “I want you to,” he seemed confused by his word choice, then frowned and tried to elaborate, “not do it in public, but…” A silly grin spread over his face as he started to giggle.

“You are hilarious drunk,” Deidara told him, laughing aloud.

“I am not drunk,” Itachi insisted, pulling his tie off him and grabbed his wrist to pull him into a sitting position. He tried to sit up as well, but forgot to stop the motion and continued to fall backwards to lie half on the floor. “Maybe… a little drunk,” he admitted.

Chuckling, Deidara sat up and swung his leg over Itachi to straddle his hips as he leaned forward to hover over him. “So what was that?” the blond pressed, smirking down at him. “Not in public, but…?”

“But…” Itachi only repeated his tone, grinning stupidly again.

“Did you like it, un~?” he prompted, rocking his hips slightly.

“Don’t ask stupid questions,” Itachi countered, waving his hand dismissively and nearly smacking him in the face. “You know perfectly well you can make anyone like anything. You’re too good at everything.”

“Damn straight!” Deidara laughed aloud, sitting up again as Itachi sat up as well, sliding his fingers into his hair to pull it out of the hair tie at the back of his neck. He grinned as Itachi’s fingers ran though his hair again, drawing the strands to press against his face and lips. “You really like my hair, huh?”

“It’s beautiful,” Itachi told him, rubbing the strands between his fingers. Itachi shifted forward again, letting Deidara fall back onto the mattress. “You always drive me crazy,” he growled softly.

“It’s what I’m best at, un,” he smirked.

Itachi huffed and grabbed him to roll him onto his stomach. Playfully struggling, Deidara grinned as the brunette climbed on top of him to hold him down, grabbing his wrist and wrapping something around it. He shifted his hand a little to feel what it was. “I own actual cuffs if you want—”

“Shut up,” Itachi muttered as he secured his hands behind his back with one of their ties. “You can’t be…be trusted,” his gruff voice was spoiled by another giggle bubbling out of him. “Can’t be trusted,” he repeated with another laugh, pushing his hair off his back to kiss slowly up his spine. “I want to do what I want to you.”

Deidara wiggled in the restraints, testing the knot and rolled his head so he could look back at him with a smirk. “You can do whatever you want to me,” he purred back at him, wiggling his hips up against Itachi weighing him down.

“But,” Itachi said, comically firm as he rolled him over again – alcohol made Itachi hilariously. “You must tell me if I hurt you,” he said, stroking his cheek softly. “We can have fun, but you tell me to stop if it is too much.”

Deidara laughed, shaking his head. “Itachi,” he pressed, “you are grossly underestimating what I can handle, un. You can do anything you want to me.”

“Nuh-uh,” Itachi scolded, cupping his face and kissing him softly. “You tell me if anything is too much.” His kisses moved down his jaw and neck, fingers sliding down his body.

Itachi lifted his head to stare down at the blond, watching him through half lidded eyes. Maybe it was the alcohol, or just watching the blond dance for him, but he couldn’t remember ever wanting him this bad. His head swam a little from the alcohol, but he felt more relaxed than he ever felt before. He would never had let Deidara do that to him in public if he was sober. It didn’t matter that they were behind a locked stall door. He swallowed thickly, thinking of the thrill of it, the feel of it. Looking down at him, he groaned softly. He looked so amazing.

“Do I?” the blond smirked.

“Oh, did I say that out loud?” Itachi asked, frowning at the wall. Shit, what was alcohol doing to him? “Well, it’s true. You’re awful and horrible and make me want to throw myself out a window sometimes. In a good way.”

“I’ve been told I have that effect on people,” he admitted. “Kiss me man, if you’re just going to stare at me, take a picture, un!”

“Oh, I’m going to kiss you,” Itachi smirked, leaning down to do so, but pulled away before Deidara could kiss him back. Ignoring the irritated whine, he began kissing down his neck and chest again, enjoying the soft moans and yelps from the blond as he dragged his nails across his skin. Deidara knew how to work someone into putty, obeying his every whim. He knew how to move to catch someone’s attention and he definitely knew how to drive Itachi up the wall. He wanted to be able to do that to Deidara, wanting to learn his buttons.

Lower and lower he worked, discovering thing about Deidara’s body he hadn’t known or noticed. Scars he hadn’t noticed before, but could feel under his lips, Deidara was ticklish on a spot on his ribs, not on his sides, but just behind – Itachi got to watch him shriek and try to twist away from his fingers. Finally he reached his pants, slowly undoing his belt, his buttons and zipper. Deidara was hard underneath the fabric of his pants. With a pleasing moan, Itachi dragged his pants down, ignoring the soft whine when he left the blond’s briefs on and drew his leg up to nibble on his inner thigh. The blond shifted, trying to get into a different position, trying to rub himself against something, moaning for Itachi to take his underwear off as well.

“No,” Itachi murmured, smirking as he sunk his teeth into the pale, soft skin of his thigh. Deidara bucked under him, crying out in pain. Itachi paused a moment, but decided it was a happy kind of pain and grinned, biting down on him again as the blond moaned his name, but it wasn’t enough to satisfy him. He wanted him screaming. How dare he turn him on so bad in public with his dancing? How dare he suck his dick in public? How dare he make him dance like an idiot, despite the fact that he had had a lot of fun once he was able to finally let go of that one unknown thing in his brain that prevented him from relaxing.

Sitting up, he pulled the blond’s shoes off and slid his pants the rest of the way off him. The blond tried to sit up, but Itachi pushed him back down, shaking his head firmly at him. The blond looked intrigued and laid back down, though he whined again, rubbing against Itachi’s leg as he did. Sliding his hands under Deidara’s knees, he pushed them up to expose him more, leaning down to run his tongue across the bulging fabric. It earned a louder moan from Deidara, twisting his upper body at the touch. “I don’t..” the blond gasped, swallowing thickly. “I’d rather… do you… Itachi.”

Itachi glanced up at him curiously. He’d never seen Deidara like this before. It suddenly occurred to him that Deidara was always the one turning him on, when they had sex it was always Deidara dragging pleasure out of him, but never really the other way around. He decided he’d think about that later, but since Deidara was tied up and he was not, he would do what he wanted. He slowly began stroking the blond over the fabric of his briefs, holding him in place with his free hand as he nibbled again on his thigh, smirking as the sounds coming from the blond. He liked these sounds. Rubbing his hips against Deidara, he stroked his erection under his underwear harder, watching him happily as he squirmed and moaned, arching his back off the bed as he released.

He smirked as he heard Deidara’s embarrassed curse as he panted, trying to get his breath back. Crawling up, he tried to kiss the blond, but he ducked away, face red in embarrassment as he rolled onto his side to face away from him. He felt himself wanting to giggle at the blond’s embarrassment, pleased with himself that he was able to please the blond even though he didn’t seem to want it. “I got you now,” he whispered in his ear, kissing into his neck. With the blond on his side, he had an excellent position of his ass, sliding his fingers under the blond’s underwear to slide his fingers in the thick sticky mess.

“You got nothing, un,” Deidara growled, glaring back at him as though he were about to throw a tantrum. The blond didn’t like the tables turned on him, but Itachi could care less.

“All mine,” he murmured, smiling a little as the blond gave a soft moan in response to his finger sliding into him. He shifted position, but missed the side of the mattress and fell forward with a yelp, landing on top of the blond as his hand hit the floor. “Your mattress is so small,” he grumbled. “What’s this?” he picked something his hand landed on, waving it in front of him with a frown, his eyes not quite focusing on the item. Alcohol still raging through his system. “Why do you have a draw rod?” he asked in confusion.

“I dunno,” Deidara replied, finally looking back at him as he shrugged. “In case?”

Itachi considered it a moment, then brought it down on the back of Deidara’s thigh, causing him to yelp and twitch away from him, though Itachi held onto him. “You don’t have curtains,” he commented, bringing it down against his thigh again, watching the way he tensed up and relaxed from the strike, a soft sound escaping his lips before they regained a bit of their smirk.

“Hm…” he mused, eyeing it again. “Maybe later,” he decided, dropping it back down on the floor. “You’ve been driving me crazy all night and I still feel weird from the alcohol.”

“A good weird?”

He grinned down at him, knowing without being able to stop it that it was a stupid looking grin – he could tell by Deidara’s amused look. “I want you so bad,” he groaned, leaning over to kiss him roughly, knee sliding behind Deidara’s to keep him on his side. This time Deidara didn’t turn his head away from him, meeting it just as roughly as he went back to stretching and teasing him until he finally pushed himself inside, moaning deeply as he broke the kiss and sank his teeth into the blonds shoulder. Harder. Faster. The blond’s cries were only egging him on, pleasure almost enough to make him pass out from over load. But he didn't. He couldn't. Deidara felt so good he couldn't stop.

When Itachi opened his eyes the next morning, he knew something wasn’t right with his body. It took him several moments before a wave of images came back to him to explain. Drinks. Bathroom. Drinks. Dancing. The bathroom in the club. Deidara. It was a headache. Not just a headache, but a full body ache that made him feel as though his body were rejecting the very idea of being anything remotely close to alive. What greeted him on his first day out of high school was a hangover as well as an incredibly full bladder. Either he could hold it back in agony, or he could deal with the hangover. He chose to deal with the hangover and crawled over to Deidara’s bathroom. He turned the light on, but immediately shut them off as new pain struck him and went in the dark. Emerging slowly after washing his hands, even the sound of the water hurting his head, he went back into the room, grateful that Deidara’s room faced away from the sunrise.

Speaking of…

Deidara was still asleep on the bed, curled up where they had fallen asleep together. With a twinge of guilt, he realized he still had his wrists bound behind his back. That had to be uncomfortable. He didn’t think he had been drunk enough to forget that, but apparently he had. Crawling back onto the bed, Itachi undid his knot and gently maneuvered the blond’s arms so they were in their normal position, rubbing his shoulders apologetically though he didn’t wake up. Settling back against his sleeping beauty, he trailed his fingers down his back to his side, over his ass then across his thigh to reach around to grip his now limp member, stroking it slightly as he rest his head down against him, grinning a little as memories from the night before came back.

The blond stirred against him, groaning softly as he stiffly tried to move his arms. “You’re a pervert even in your sleep, un,” came the sleepy mumble from the pillow.

“I’m awake.”

“Then you’re just a pervert, period, un,” Deidara told him, shifting onto his back so he could turn his head to face him, eyes only just cracked open. Itachi drew his legs up to curl against him for warmth and the blond draped his legs over top of him.

“I couldn’t help myself,” Itachi told him, nibbling playfully at his shoulder. “You were lying here, still tied up, all helpless and vulnerable. It looked pretty hot.”

“Vulnerable?” Deidara smirked, then raised his voice loudly. “Are you sure I’m the one who’s vulnerable?”

“Shh!” Itachi begged, whimpering as he pressed his face against his warm skin. “Please… don’t. Mercy.”

The blond giggled at him, his arms wrapping around himself as he rubbed his sore shoulders slightly. Itachi reached over to help him, drawing him closer. “Sorry if I hurt you,” the brunette mumbled apologetically.

“Don’t worry about it.”

Itachi sighed softly, relaxing back down against him. He could hear the unspoken part of that statement: he’s had worse. Deidara kept pushing it off as if it was nothing, but it wasn’t. “I had fun last night,” Itachi said, not commenting on his thoughts.

“Me too,” Deidara said, rubbing his nose against Itachi’s cheek. “Especially since I’ve discovered something you really like, un,” he smirked deviously, “just not in public, but~”

Itachi recognized that the blond was repeating something in a mimicked voice, and he seriously hoped he hadn’t sounded like that when he commented on it. “Yeah well,” he huffed in embarrassment. “I had never had a blow job before.”

“No?” Deidara’s grin widened. “And you hit me with a curtain rod.”

“You don’t have curtains!” Itachi insisted, gesturing without looking at the window. “You can’t possibly have it in case of curtains.”

The blond burst out laughing. “‘In case of curtains’,” he repeated before Itachi smothered him with his pillow.

“Shhhh!” he moaned, reaching down to pull the blanket over the two of them. “I feel like I’m dying.” Deidara let his laughter die down, relaxing as Itachi shifted to get comfortable, arms wrapped around the blond’s torso and using his chest as a pillow, fingers trailing lightly over his skin. He could feel the little imperfections the new skin made from his scars, thinking of the phrase Deidara always used again. ‘I’ve had worse’. Itachi didn’t care that he had had worse, but he did care that he had had to experience worse. He felt protective over the blond, wanting to keep him safe from harm. Deidara had saved him from his father, but he couldn’t do anything for the blond in return. Now it felt like he was too late. His time in school with Deidara was over.

“Itachi? What’s wrong?”

“I’m going to miss you,” Itachi told him, clinging to him tighter to emphasis the words. He was going to spend his whole time wondering if the blond was alright, if he was being hurt by one of his clients, if someone was helping him when he needed it.

“I’m gonna miss you too,” Deidara told him with a smile. “I’m glad that phone you got is on an actual plan cause I dunno if I could afford the bill after spending all my minutes harassing you with it, un!” he chuckled, lightly this time. “I’m going to bug you so much you’re going to want to smack me when you see me.”

Itachi smiled happily at his words, kissing him softly. Seven months since they met. Three months spent seeing him nearly every day. He would never get tired of being harassed by the blond. He couldn’t imagine what it would be like the next four or so years when he could only see him for a few hours each month. He couldn’t believe he had let Deidara talk him into a school so far away. He had tried rationalizing going to a closer one, but Deidara kept reminding him that the school he had accepted was the best and he deserved the best. Deidara wouldn’t be able to afford the gas money it would take to visit him very often, so he couldn’t even count on that no matter how much Deidara said he would come to visit.

Now he felt miserable on top of this hangover. “My head hurts,” Itachi whined softly, tucking his face into the curve of Deidara’s neck. “I think that rod was a sign. You need to invest in some curtains.”

The blond chuckled again and pulled the blankets over their head. “You learn to make do, un,” he whispered softly in the darkness they made.

Reprieved from the sun, Itachi felt the strain lesson slightly. It was enough that he felt a little less like he wanted to die. He ran his hands over Deidara’s torso, reminding himself how it felt, each dip, each curve. He wanted to know him by heart, by touch alone and not just by sight or by just the smell of his conditioner and body spray, or just by the way he smiled with his whole face. Deidara held so still for him he thought perhaps he’d fallen asleep until he’d given a soft sigh. His fingers trailed over the nap of his neck then down again his fingers reaching the old scars he’d shown him months ago, the remainders of a story yet to be told.

“Hey, Deidara?” he murmured. Deidara made a questioning noise, his throat vibrating with it against Itachi’s cheek. “How did you get these scars?” he indicated which ones he meant, sliding along the small caverns like angry cat scratches.

“Mmm…” Deidara murmured, shrugging a little. “I went to the movies once, made a deal with the girl on shift working in the projection room to watch from there for free. I was really high… The movie was Peter Pan, some version of it, I don’t remember which. But afterwards I went out and climbed on top of a building. I was so high I figured that the shit I snorted was pixie dust and I could fly…”

Itachi swallowed, unable to keep himself from picturing the scene in his head. He’d never used drugs before, never needing the school talks that warned about the dangers of doing drugs. But hearing the way it would impair your thoughts so much you’d think you could fly off the top of a building and go to a place like Neverland… He was never touching drugs and he wished desperately that Deidara would never touch them again, but he knew that was a little harder than himself not touching them. Deidara was getting better, Daichi kept reminding him. Deidara didn’t like using drugs around Itachi and since he was around Itachi a lot, it was doing him some good. But he was leaving soon…

“You jumped?” Itachi asked in a soft whisper. More of Daichi’s words came back to him, remember the first time he’d seen Deidara race. So reckless. So fearless. ‘Deidara thought himself invisible because nothing has killed him yet. Not even jumping off a building.’

“It wasn't that high...but I landed on a barb wire fence,” Deidara murmured quietly, but he felt him grinning. “But I’m fine now. Kinda put me off Peter Pan for a while though.” Itachi started to say something, but Deidara moved to kiss him softly, whispering to him not to worry about it and go to sleep. After a bit of grumbling, Itachi let his mind drift to stop thinking about it. It was making his head hurt worse and he needed sleep. Deidara knew how to not kill himself too. He was obviously fine now except for the marks left behind.


	17. Chapter 17

Packing.

Lectures.

Packing.

Advice.

Unpacking.

Repacking.

Itachi wished he had a specific list of things he needed to take with him and that it would also pack his stuff for him. He hadn’t realized going to University meant reevaluating his nineteen years’ worth of possessions before even beginning to pack. He loved his mother. He really did, but did she really have to go through everything he owned to determine whether it would be necessary or sentimental enough to take or if it was better off in the safe space that was his childhood room. She also seemed to think that he would not only forget to do his laundry, but that he would forget to feed himself and also forget to check expiration dates before he bought food. He did know what was healthy for him, even if he had little experience cooking for himself. Itachi finally pointed out that his school had a cafeteria and he would be getting his meals from there for the most part and she finally settled down on matters of food. She had instead given him lists of things he could keep in his room in case he didn’t have time and instructions on how to do his laundry in case he forgot. How thankful Itachi was of Sasuke, whose only addition to his packing had been an offer to lend him video games for when he got bored if Itachi would let him have his room.

Itachi refused. This had been his room first and knew that Sasuke just wanted access to the window and tree that Deidara often used to sneak in and out for his own night time getaways.

The offer had been retracted, but Itachi didn’t play video games so it didn’t really matter to him.

He was incredibly grateful for his friends at the garage who didn’t badger him about leaving, or his plans, or things they thought he needed. They worked on cars, they raced, they played basketball, they had fun. Itachi would miss them all a lot, but not as much as Deidara who had finished all his finals after weeks of complaining and bribes and now spent his free time with Itachi.

Moving day arrived and his mother and brother had gotten up early to help him finish his last minute packing before he was to leave after lunch. One of the girls from the garage had lent him her truck the week before on his first visit to the school so he wouldn’t have to take anything except a few last minute items with him on his last day. His last bag containing his laptop, school supplies and a few odds and ends went into his trunk and all he had left to do was say his good byes and he could go. Well…almost. He still had one more thing he wanted to do, but he needed someone here. Someone whose absence was hard to ignore.

Itachi was sure Deidara had slept in. If he had, then he didn’t want to wake him up by calling him. Maybe he was just as bad with goodbyes as Itachi was. If that was the case, he understood. Understood, but it made him sad. He wanted to see him one last time before he left. Despite Deidara assuring him how much he would harass him over the phone, it was still a long time to be away.

Thumb hovering over the call button with Deidara’s new number dialed, Itachi debated again and again whether to call or not. His room felt empty, though there wasn’t many visible changes. He wouldn’t need his collection of mystery and thriller novels. Wouldn’t need his old high school books. He was taking his laptop, so his desktop computer was still sitting on his desk. His alarm clock was gone from his nightstand, as were his reading glasses. His dresser didn’t have the two picture frames it usually held – one of himself with his mother and brother, the other a picture with Deidara from last Christmas. Behind the door to his closet, he knew it was a different story, his clothes were gone except for a few things he didn’t wear anymore, as were his shoes. His mother had bought him new bedding, so his bed was still made, though it was lacking a few of his favorite pillows. The only thing out of place was the medium size cardboard box next to him on the desk. He glanced at it, wondering if he should just go to the apartment to find Deidara, but he didn’t know if he had gone home last night. He almost began the debate on whether to call him again when Sasuke knocked on his door frame.

“Hey, Mom says to come down for lunch,” he told him, jerking his head to the side to indicate the stairs.

“Alright,” Itachi murmured with a sigh, closing his phone without calling the blond and followed his brother down to the living room.

At the bottom, he was startled to see that there were more people than there should have been. Several cheered and congratulated him, thumping him on the back while others waited patiently for the onslaught to be over. It seemed as though someone had gone behind his back to invite nearly everyone from the garage as well as a few from the races that he had made friends with.

“Did you really think you’d get away?” Daichi questioned when he could finally get over to him, shaking his hand firmly.

“You’re the fastest in the city,” Itachi reminded him with a grin. “I did think I’d at least out run the rest of you.”

Several people laughed and began shoving gifts into his hands. Cards, bags and boxes, telling him to open them when he got to school and not here. His Mazda wouldn’t run as light as he had expected. Oh well. He wasn’t going to turn down presents from his friends. Real friends. He had never really had friends before, more acquaintances, but these were all people he spent a lot of time with and enjoyed being around. Deidara had been the reason he had gone to any of the gatherings or events he knew them from, but he wouldn’t deny he enjoyed spending time with all of them.

Mikoto had prepared a buffet of food for everyone to eat, others had brought their own dishes to share. She was most likely the culprit who arranged all this, but he didn’t say anything. He just piled his plate with the rest of them and followed the crowd to sit in the living room. Sasuke looked hilariously pathetic wedged between some of the girls dressed in their too short skirts and too low pants. He couldn’t help but playfully ruffling his brother’s hair to embarrass him, and reminded the girls that his brother was still underage.

Finding a seat on the sofa with Daichi and Rin, Itachi gave a glance around his going away party, feeling incredibly fond of all of them. Rin had baby Suki in one arm while Daichi held her plate on his lap. They laughed as Rin tried to juggle the baby and her fork, ending in letting Daichi feed her instead.

“Did he say anything?” he asked quietly, trying to keep the hope from his voice. By the instant drop of their smiles, he could see he failed.

“He actually didn’t come home last night, that I know of,” Rin said, giving him a sad shake of her head.

“Don’t worry about him,” Daichi added. “He’s never had to say good bye to someone before, it’s not that he doesn’t care.”

“I know,” Itachi said, shrugging a little. “I wouldn’t expect him to do something he wasn’t comfortable with.” He ate more of his food, thinking about the blond. Deidara knew how to take care of himself, but, in Itachi’s opinion, he really only knew how to survive, which was not the same thing. He was excited about going to university, but wished he could take the blond with him. He wanted to go out looking for him to say goodbye, but if he hadn’t come home last night, he could be anywhere. It had been nice last night, he could be sleeping on a park bench somewhere.

“Hey, Daichi,” he said suddenly. “Could you do something for me?” He leaned over and whispered in his ear, Rin curiously leaning in to listen as well. They both smiled at him and Daichi nodded, agreeing to do what he’d asked. Itachi felt a little more at ease now and relaxed into the party’s atmosphere. He stayed longer than he intended to, eating and talking with everyone, watching the girls flirt with Sasuke who looked more embarrassed than he had ever seen him. Itachi didn’t think he’d ever seen Sasuke so embarrassed, yet pleased with himself as the girls put their numbers into his phone.

After finally saying his last good byes much later than intended, taking all his new presents with him to be opened in his dorm, he closed the front door behind him with a sigh of relief. He liked all of them very much, but he was not used to so many people focusing their attention on him and he was also pretty sure he had eaten enough for two whole meals. His mother was sure he would starve at school. But now he was out and on his way…except that a new barrier stood in his path, but this barrier he would never be upset about.

“Deidara,” he breathed, a weight he hadn’t realized he’d been holding falling away from him. He had wanted to see him very badly.

The blond was sitting on the hood of his car, fidgeting as he waited for him to come outside. A smile flashed over his face when he did, giving him a tiny wave with a barely raised hand. Shy. Deidara looked so cute when he got shy about something. “Took you long enough,” he commented.

Itachi had the sudden urge to drop all his presents and rush over to him, but didn’t want to break anything. “I had to fight a battle to get out of there,” Itachi informed him, putting his presents into the trunk of his car so he could come around to face him, giving him the hug. “I didn’t think you’d come.”

“Yeah, well, I didn’t think I would either, un,” Deidara said, hugging him back tightly when he was in reach. “But I wanted to see you before you went.”

Itachi smiled down at him and moved to sit on the car as well. Sliding his arm around Deidara’s shoulders, he pulled him close and kissed his forehead sweetly. His hair was damp, he noted in surprise. Deidara usually blew his hair dry. His clothes looked thrown on in a hurry, just jeans and a t-shirt. No belt, no bag, no hoodie. Itachi had never seen Deidara without his side bag full of useful junk. He’d left wherever he had been in such a hurry, he had forgotten essentials he rarely went without. It was almost touching.

“I got you a present,” Itachi told him in a soft voice, trying to let the gratefulness of his rush to get to him in time slip into his voice. Deidara looked up at him with his chin resting on his shoulder, blue eyes wide to show his curiosity in silence. “I was going to have Daichi give it to you, but I’d rather give it to you myself. Wait here.”

Getting up, Itachi hurried inside, ignoring the startled looks from the people still standing around talking and eating, and mounting the stairs to his room. Picking up the cardboard box, he descended to the first floor again, much more carefully this time. He gave them all a sheepish grin, throwing Daichi a “never mind” over his shoulder and went out the door again. Deidara was still sitting where he left him, fingers laced over his knees as he watched him approach, head tilted slightly to the side. Leaning back against his car again, he carefully handed it to the blond.

“I found it when I went for a run last night,” Itachi told him.

“Oh? You got me trash?” Deidara asked, starting to shake the box, but, anticipating the action, Itachi grabbed it to stop him.

“Not trash,” Itachi said, smiling a little as Deidara stared at him, then at the box, wondering why he had stopped him from shaking it. “I thought maybe you’d like some company while I’m gone.”

“Company?” Deidara asked in utter confusion. He sat the box down onto his lap and opened it. Itachi watched, smiling a little, as his eyes widening as he stared into the box. The blond opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out so he closed it again. Reaching inside, he pulled out a tiny kitten with black and white fluffy fur and one bright blue eye and one brown. It made a noise that was still far from a real meow, happily attacking and rubbing his face against Deidara’s fingers as the blond continued to stare in stunned silence.

“Surprise,” Itachi said quietly. “I know how much you secretly love taking care of strays like me, so I thought maybe you would like to take care of him. He’s really tiny and his eyes are mismatched, so no one really seemed to want him and I thought you’d like him.”

“You’re giving me an alive present, un?” Deidara asked, his normal tones slowly coming back in the form of halfhearted sarcasm. “I can’t even take care of myself.”

“That’s not true,” Itachi said, sliding his arm around the blond’s waist. “I just didn’t want you to get lonely… and cats usually grow up to take care of themselves.” He watched the blond turn the kitten onto its back to give his stomach gentle scratches while the tiny beast tried to attack his fingers again. “Do you like him?”

“Yeah he’s really cute,” Deidara said, picking him up again to rub his face against the kitten’s fur. “Does he have a name?”

“He’s your cat,” Itachi said, twirling a strand of the blond’s hair around his finger. “I left that responsibility to you.”

“Nice,” Deidara smirked, setting the kitten down on his lap and stroking its back as it sniffed his pants.

Leaning closer, Itachi rubbed his nose against Deidara’s cheek and hugged him tighter. “I know it’s kinda big, but I just didn’t want you to be lonely,” he told him. “Wanna go get a snack before I leave? We’re being watched.”

“I know,” Deidara grumbled, looking up at the crowded windows of the Uchiha living room. He gave them all a withering look, but as he spotted Daichi, held up the kitten with a grin. The glass silenced the cooing Rin made and he smirked as Daichi made an apprehensive face, probably wondering if the thing was going to be alive in a few days. Sliding off the car, Deidara cradled the kitten carefully and got into the black Mazda. He saw a few people making faces at them as they left. No show for them.

They pulled out of the driveway in silence. Itachi wasn’t sure what to say to him. What was there to say? Anything that needed to be said had already been said. He would miss him. He would call. He would visit as much as he could. Deidara could visit as much as he wanted, so long as he still went to school when he was supposed to. Weekends would be best, but Itachi doubted he’d be able to visit as much as they both wanted him to. Gas was expensive, and Itachi didn’t want him to resort to selling drugs and being butchered by clients just to spend a few hours with him. Itachi had never had to say good bye to someone before.

He didn’t want to leave him.

“Killer?”

Deidara’s voice broke through his depressing thoughts and it took him a moment to realize what he was talking about. When he did, he snorted. That little fluff ball rolling clumsily on Deidara’s lap was no killer. “Seriously?” he questions skeptically.

“You never know,” Deidara said defensively. “He’s just a baby.”

“That thing is no killer,” Itachi said, reaching over to poke the little body.

Deidara laughed as the kitten playfully swatted at Itachi’s finger, falling over his own legs as he did so then managed to grab onto the finger and purred loudly as he rubbed his head against him. “He’s really cute,” Deidara commented, wiggling his own fingers around to catch the kitten’s attention so it would go after them, laughing as it leaped spectacularly only three inches, losing its balance as the car turned.

Itachi couldn’t help but smile. Not at the kitten, but at Deidara’s laughter. Something he always appreciated about the blond was how he never held back with his laugh, his grin nearly splitting his face in half. He felt miserable again, thinking that he was leaving him behind. They’d still talk. He’d still hear it. “I left money on my desk for you,” he told him, trying to force his thoughts back into the corner of his mind. “For stuff like litterbox, collar and stuff like that. You better bring him when you visit.”

“I will,” Deidara said with a smirk. “Would be pretty sad for you to visit and him to have taken over your side of the bed.”

Itachi snorted, pulling into the parking lot of Deidara’s favorite place to get milkshakes. “Yeah, teach him his place,” he said, watching Deidara set the kitten on his shoulder so he could walk up to the building. “You want to wait out here? I don’t think they let pets inside.”

“I don’t know what I want, un,” Deidara commented, frowning at the ‘no pets’ sign on the door.

“I do,” Itachi smirked, going inside. Even if it took Deidara a while to pour over a menu and consider what he wanted when they ate at a restaurant, he generally got the same thing. Milkshakes were easy. Always vanilla.

“You can’t possibly know what I wanted,” Deidara commented when he came back out.

“Vanilla milkshake,” he said, handing it over. “And fries.” Deidara stared from the food to Itachi looking suspicious but accepted both. “You literally get the same thing here every time. Vanilla milkshakes here, chocolate fudge ice cream with cookie dough at the ice cream place, strawberry smoothies at the mall, and nuggets, fries and a burger for later at McDonalds… stop looking at me like that, I’m observant.”

“Or a stalker,” he accused.

“It’s not stalking if you get the same thing every time,” he insisted. “Don’t you know what I get here?”

“Uh-… vanilla,” Deidara replied, flustered. “Because you don’t really like milkshakes, so you know it wont go to waste cause I’ll drink it, un.”

“See?” Itachi grinned as the blond rolled his eyes. They returned to the car, sitting down on the curb so Deidara could eat. Itachi was still full from his mother’s meal and told Deidara he should drop him off at his house so he could eat there. The blond nodded enthusiastically, mouth full of fries. The kitten, still clinging to Deidara’s shoulder, moved to investigate, mewing loudly for a taste. Deidara complied by pulling his straw out so he could sniff and lick it, much to Itachi’s horrification. “He’s going to get sick, Dei,” he warned.

“No, he’s not. It’s just a little bit,” Deidara said, returning the straw and reaching up to rub the kitten’s chin. "I’m calling him Milkshake.”

“Milkshake?” Itachi asked in slight disbelief. Personally, he’d kill someone if they named him that, but then again, he wasn’t a cat. “Is his middle name ‘Vanilla’?”

“No, ‘Blender’, un,” Deidara joked, grinning in satisfaction when Itachi started choking on the fry he had stolen. “I’m kidding.”

“Good,” Itachi said, coughing his airway clear. “Milkshake it is then.”

“He looks more like an Oreo than Vanilla, anyway,” Deidara commented, rubbing his cheek against the kitten head, ignoring its cries for more creamy goodness. Itachi slid closer to him and wrapped his arm around the blond’s waist. “Do you want me to get you a pet rock or something?” the blond inquired, tilting his head to look at Itachi, straw stuck in his mouth. Ugh. The cute face. Why was he so good at that?

“I don’t think I’ll be able to take care of even a rock while I’m in school,” he admitted, leaning forward to give him a kiss for the look. “Uchihas are notorious for accidental deaths in our pets.” It was true. He didn’t know any of his cousins whose pets lasted very long before meeting their end. When he and Itachi were younger, Shisui had gotten a puppy who loved chasing cars a little too much which led to a traumatizing event that made the young Itachi swear off pets. Sasuke had tried to keep a pet alive too, but despite care and research, his fish hated one another and fought until there were only pieces of mangled fish flesh floating in the tank. Itachi liked cats, but was afraid of what would happened if he got one. Deidara was crazy and, while the insanity would probably rub off on the kitten, Itachi was hoping his penchant for survival would also rub off. Deidara was still alive, wasn’t he?

An unwanted glance at his watch told him he needed to go if he was going to make it in time for check in and orientation. Sighing heavily, he reached over and pulled Deidara onto his lap, burying his face into the thick golden hair, still damp from his shower, until his nose touched the curve of his neck. He was careful not to crush the kitten as he hugged him tightly.

“Ita—?”

“Shh…” he whispered softly, resting his cheek on his shoulder with his face turned away. “Sorry…I just… I’ll miss you. I don’t want to leave.”

Deidara held still for him, resting back against with the purring kitten rubbing his face against his cheek. Itachi couldn’t help, but smile at the uncomfortable moment Deidara was having as he tried to cover it up by continuing to drink his shake. “Um, are you finished having your moment, un?” Deidara asked after he couldn’t stand the silence any longer.

“Almost,” Itachi assured him, playing with Deidara’s hair. It was really too long for a boy’s hair, but it suited him somehow. His own hair was long as well, but nowhere near as long as Deidara’s. He kept his own hair in a low ponytail, but Deidara styled his in a variety of ways, but usually let most of it stay down. It felt much healthier than his own as well. Deidara began shifting restlessly again and he smiled affectionately against his shoulder. “Don’t get yourself killed while I’m gone,” he said softly. “I don’t like…not being around.”

“Itachi,” he chided, “I’ve been taking care of myself long before you came around, un.” It hadn’t been what he meant, but he decided to leave it alone.

“Yeah, yeah…” Itachi murmured, nudging him until he got off him so he could stand up. “Ready?”

“Yep,” the blond said, tossing his trash in a nearby trashcan and climbed into the car. When Itachi got in the car as well, he shifted as close as he could so he could lean against Itachi’s shoulder from over the console. “I’m gonna miss this,” the blond said as Itachi shifted into gear ad pulled out onto the road.

“What? Me taking you out to lunch?” he asked, chuckling a little.

“I’ve never been able to drink so many milkshakes, un,” Deidara commented earnestly. “If this went on any longer I’d become fat.”

“I highly doubt that,” Itachi said, shaking his head. He knew Deidara meant going for drives together, spending time with him. The blond had told him once, very drunkenly, that he always expected to be bored on their drives, but ‘secretly’ looked forward to them. He would miss their drives too. Normally he would have driven fast. The both of them loved speed, but he didn’t want to shorten their time together, so for the first time, Itachi went the speed limit. Deidara didn’t comment.

“Why Milkshake?” Itachi asked suddenly, grinning at the ridiculousness of the name.

“Cause I love milkshakes,” Deidara answered simply. “And it’s one of the only things I can say in English.”

“What?” Itachi asked, glancing over at him. “There are a lot more borrowed words than ‘milkshake’, you know. Didn’t you take English classes?”

Deidara shrugged. “I skipped, and now I take German,” he explained. “Cause I can already speak German, un.”

“Huh… that’s a sneaky way to get good grades,” Itachi said, slightly impressed.

“Not really, cause I never do my homework,” Deidara reminded him, grinning devilishly.

“Can you really speak it then?” Itachi asked, turning to go the long way back to his mother’s house.

“Yep. Fluent.”

“I want to hear you speak German sometime,” Itachi said.

Deidara snorted. “Do you?” he asked.

“Milkshake does too, don’t you?” he said, reaching over to scratch the kitten’s head.

The kitten looked up at him, mewing loudly and tried to crawl over to Itachi’s lap to get him to keep petting him, but Deidara stopped him. Wouldn’t want his new pet getting hurt from being crushed under a gas petal or something. The blond snickered and leaned closer to Itachi, nose rubbing against his cheek then turned to his ear. “Ich werde dich vermissen,” he whispered. “Wünschte du müsstest nicht gehen, un…”

“And what does that mean?” he asked, tilting his head slightly to rest against Deidara’s forehead. Deidara’s voice sounded slightly different in a different language, he mused in interest.

Deidara snickered quietly and kissed his cheek. “Get a dictionary,” he teased. The kitten, not wanting to get left out, climbed up onto Deidara’s shoulders and stuck his nose between their faces, licking their cheeks.

“Hey,” Itachi warned, moving the kitten to Deidara’s other shoulder and out of the way as he pulled up to a red light. “I can kiss him whenever I want, alright kid?” Reproachfully, Milkshake crawled back over and swatted Itachi’s nose as he leaned over for a kiss. It made Itachi jump a little at the bop on his nose, but the kitten didn’t back down from his glare. So defiant. He was taking after Deidara faster than he thought.

“Maybe he wants a kiss too,” Deidara suggested, smirking at him.

“I am not kissing a cat,” Itachi said, sitting up straight in his seat, and moved the car forward as the light turned green. “That’s so unhygienic. You don’t know where he’s been. I haven’t given him a bath yet.”

“But he loves, you, un!” Deidara insisted, holding the kitten up to him. “And he wants a kiss!”

“I am not kissing a cat,” Itachi insisted back, pulling into his own neighborhood and parking the car in front of his house.

“He’s not just a cat,” Deidara told him, lower lip jutting out into a pout. “He’s our cat.”

“No!” Itachi cried, throwing his hands up. “I’ll kiss him after you give him a bath.”

“But I don’t have any cat soap and you’re leaving, un,” he watched Deidara slump sadly back against his seat. The blond was trying to con him into kissing Milkshake. It wasn’t going to work this time. There was no way in hell he would kiss a dirty cat. Instead, he reached over and scratched the tiny thing’s head.

Deidara grumbled to himself when he realized he wasn’t going to get Itachi to cave. How could he refuse something this cute? “It’s okay, Milkshake,” he told him as he drew him back against his own body in a gently hug. He gave him an affectionate kiss on the top of his black and white fluffy head. “I love you. Itachi’s just being a butthead.”

“I am not being a butthead,” Itachi grumbled next to him, looking defensive. “I just don’t want to kiss a dirty cat and it’s kinda gross that you’re doing it. You should go brush your teeth before you kiss me good bye.”

Deidara snorted, puckering his lips up with a grin. “Secondhand kissing, un,” he crooned, then laughed as he leaned back against the leather seat. Itachi wasn’t falling for his usual tactics today. It was starting to get on Deidara’s nerves until he saw the expression on Itachi’s face from the corner of his eye. It made him turn his head slightly to be able to see it better.

He was sad. Very sad, but trying not to let Deidara see it, waiting until he thought Deidara wasn’t watching to let the expression slip. Setting the kitten down on the dashboard, ignoring the kitten’s protests, he slid over the gear shifter and emergency break to squeeze himself between Itachi and the steering wheel. The sad expression dropped instantly to a smile as Itachi quickly moved his seat back so Deidara wouldn’t be so tightly wedged and moved his hands to slide up his sides. Catching them, Deidara studied him for a moment before bringing them up to rub against Itachi’s cheeks.

“Don’t be sad, Itachi,” he told him, bringing his hands over to rub against his own face. Itachi looked startled, but Deidara cut him off as he opened his mouth. “Don’t be sad,” he repeated sternly. “I’m not going anywhere. I’ll be here waiting, un. I like it better when you smile…”

Itachi sighed a little, then gave him a stupid looking grin, making Deidara throw his head back in laughter. He was still chuckling softly when Itachi’s arms wrapped around his shoulders to pull him into a crushing hug. “I’ll miss you,” he whispered softly. “I.. I have to go now…”

“I know,” Deidara said, resting his head against his shoulder as Itachi rocked them slightly. He gave his shoulder a little kiss before opening the car door and slid off his lap onto solid black asphalt. “Call me when you get there, okay?”

“I’ll call when I get there,” Itachi promised with a small smile, handing Milkshake over to Deidara. “Take care of him, alright, cat?”

Taking the kitten, Deidara set him on his shoulder as he leaned down into the car to give him one last kiss, his thumb brushing over Itachi’s cheek bone. Forcing himself away before he jumped back into the car with him, Deidara stepped back onto the curb and wrapped his arms around himself and offered Itachi a smile. If this was a movie, Deidara was sure it would be rainy, or windy, but it was neither. It was a nice day, a good day for a walk, or a drive up the mountain. But Itachi was leaving and stuff like that would have to wait.

It wasn’t until he made a shooing motion with his hand did Itachi finally stop staring at him and turn his car back on. The blond almost felt he was going to pull back out into the street without looking for traffic, but Itachi was a good driver and took his eyes off him to check, leaving Deidara behind as he drove out back out of his neighborhood. The further he got, the harder it was for Deidara to force himself to stay in the spot and not chase after the car, demanding that Itachi stay. Stay or take him along. Itachi could do neither and it would hurt him to have to tell him ‘no’, so Deidara stayed put. This horrible sense of loss and longing was a new feeling to him. He remembered vividly when he knew his mother had left him behind, but it wasn’t like this. His mother had left him because he had been a shitty kid that she didn’t want. This was a different kind of loss and longing. Nothing lasted forever. That was what made things unique. Things that lasted, that never changed were dull. He hated dull, but as he watched Itachi’s black car turn at the corner, watching Itachi look back at him and give him a smile and a small wave, he felt a sharp tug on his chest that hurt. It hurt so bad, he forgot to breathe for a moment. Forcing himself to wave back before Itachi disappeared, he dug his teeth into his lower lip, leaning against Daichi’s car that was still parked in the driveway with his arms wrapped tightly around himself, sinking into the thought that he found himself hating.

Itachi was leaving him behind.

He was gone and Deidara wouldn’t see him for a long time.

He was gone.


	18. Chapter 18

As the professor dismissed the class, Itachi made a few notes in his homework planner and began packing his things away. He’d been resisting the urge to look at his phone all class, hoping for a message waiting for him, but when he checked the screen as he stood, a wave of disappointment washed over him. No messages. Shouldering his bag, he stepped out into the hallway and began making his way back towards his dorm.

Pausing a moment, he glanced around with a frown. Usually the hallways were dull and quiet, the only sounds quiet conversations echoing gently or the sound of footsteps hurrying to a class. Compared to high school, everything was silent. Today, there was an excited babble in the air. Maybe people were discussing going home for the weekend, but a couple people were talking loudly about something that happened in another wing of the school. He moved to the side as someone ran passed him, sighing in aggravation and walked purposefully down the hall, ignoring them all.

“There’s some crazy the west wing on the second floor.”

“He punched me in the face!”

“I was there, it was your stomach.”

“He broke into a vending machine! Like, picked the lock and just took one soda.”

Itachi stopped walking and glanced over at the speakers. A tiny feeling of hopefulness and worry began to rise. He knew someone who would do something like that.

“I think I know who you mean! He burst into the middle of my class, looked around and just left.”

“Mine too.”

“Are you sure it was a boy? That hair…”

Holy shit. Itachi hurried down the hall passed them. What a way to end a Friday. Sorry professor, my boyfriend is slightly psychotic and has no regard for rules or laws. Careful, sometimes he likes things that blow up. It’s his art. Don’t try to tell him off, he hates authority. What’s he doing here? Probably looking for me.

A grin spread over his face. Great. Really great actually. He turned the corner and began searching. Searching for what? Destruction, chaos, signs of a tantrum were a few ideas that came to mind. Deidara was probably looking for him and getting frustrated when he couldn’t find him. Didn’t he remember he had classes? Deidara had been very put out over the phone when he called Itachi to tell him that he had survived eleventh grade, only to find out that college classes, which had started the Monday after orientation, lasted until the end of August. He had expected Itachi to be able to spend all summer with him, but Itachi had to explain that it would only be for a few short weeks instead of a few months.

So Deidara had decided to come and surprise him.

Itachi stopped and let out a soft laugh. That’s why he hadn’t left him a message after class, asking if he was coming home for the weekend. The blond wanted to surprise him, but this was Deidara’s first time on campus. While the University was within one building connected by long corridors and wings, it was still very large campus. Itachi hadn’t told him where his dorm was or where his classes were and when. He had a sudden image of Deidara’s mischievous grin as he plotted to surprise Itachi with his sudden arrival, then him growing more and more irritated when he couldn’t find Itachi.

He started laughing again and hurried to the stairs to go to the second floor. There in the hallway was the vending machine, which Deidara had also left hanging open. A few students were venturing to steal something for themselves before the professors started arriving. At least, Itachi mused to himself, he hadn’t blown the whole thing up.

One soda.

The cheap ass.

Shaking his head, he continued down the new hall, moving around other students and searching for the blond. In high school, his hair and short stature made him easy to spot, but here in University, there were students of all heights and hair colors, some foreigners even. If the tiny blond was in the crowd he was lost to him.

He had no idea where to start and wondered if he should just call the blond. He’d be put out for being unsuccessful in surprising him, but it would probably mean that there would be less destruction. He entered a new stairwell to go down another level when he heard a distressed voice on the lower level of the stair well. “I don’t know! I’ve never heard of him!”

“How is that fucking possible, un?!” the familiar voice that floated up to him brought such a wave of happiness, Itachi almost let a huge smile break over his face. Almost. Smiling like an idiot while Deidara was terrorizing his school wouldn’t be a good idea. Better not encourage such behavior.

“I don’t—”

“Deidara,” Itachi called down in the sternest voice he could manage, leaning on the rail of the stairs to look down. Oh god, the man he was harassing was nearly twice his size. How adorable.

Deidara whirled around, looking for the source of the voice, spotting him quickly and let go of the student who bolted down the stairs. Unlike Itachi, Deidara did let the huge smile break over his face before he hid it. “Where the fuck have you been, un?” he demanded, stomping his foot. “I’ve literally been looking everywhere for you, un!”

“You could have text me to find out where I was,” Itachi reminded him, taking the steps down to be on the same landing as the blond.

“…I wanted to surprise you,” Deidara said, folding his arms tightly and turning his nose up in a haughty manner.

Itachi snorted, shaking his head. “You didn’t think of it did you?”

“I would have later!” the blond snapped, cheeks turning slightly pink. Trying to cover up his embarrassment, he stepped up to Itachi, eyeing him expectantly.

Itachi debated just standing there and staring back at him until Deidara snapped again, but he couldn’t resist that long. He had spent so much time with the erratic teenager before graduation that being here without him let him know what it felt like to be lonely for the first time in his life. Letting half of his smile break though, he reached out and hugged Deidara tightly. “It’s so good to see you,” he told him as the blonds arms went around him as well. “Did you really punch that guy?”

“Which one?”

“Which—” Itachi sighed softly and rubbed his temples a little. Deidara was going to give him a headache and he’d only been there for a few minutes. He should have given the blond more instructions in case he wanted to come visit. “How long have you been here?” he asked.

“Like a fucking hour!” Deidara grumbled, his temper flaring a little again, throwing his arms up.

“You’re a moron,” he informed him, amused by his frustrations. “How long did it take you to realize you had no idea where any of my classes were?”

Deidara didn’t answer, just glared furiously and turned to storm up the stairs Itachi had come down, but Itachi stopped him with an arm around his waist. He picked him up and set him back down on the landing. “Don’t be grumpy,” he told him, squeezing him affectionately. “Let’s go get something to eat.”

“Where?” Deidara demanded, folding his arms, but Itachi’s arm keeping him from storming away like he wanted to. “There’s nothing here but vending machines, un.”

“Just in the hallways,” Itachi told him, steering him to the stairs to go down. “There’s a cafeteria on the first floor that has pretty good food. I’ll show you your way around so you won’t get lost next time.”

“I wasn’t lost!” Deidara argued, stomping down the stairs with Itachi behind him. Unable to hold it in, Itachi had let out a soft snicker. He tried to hide it behind his hand, but Deidara heard him and turned to glare at him. “What?!”

“Don’t be mad,” Itachi told him, wrapping his arms around his shoulders to draw him back against him. “I’m just happy to see you… but I keeping imagining you realizing you had no idea where I was and having a tantrum. It’s just so funny.”

He held on tight as Deidara started to struggle, embarrassed and angry, claiming he wasn’t having a tantrum, which he obviously was. He shouted that he was going to just leave and go home now, but Itachi wouldn’t let him go, planting his feet on the ground so Deidara had to use all his energy to drag him down the hallway. He had found that the best way to deal with Deidara’s embarrassed tempers was to wear him out until the tantrum passed. Ignoring his grunts and exclamations of his anger, Itachi rest his head on top of the blond’s head and smiled happily.

His week just got a million times better.

Deidara finally wore himself out at the end of the hallway. His legs felt shaky from having to drag himself and Itachi so far and he was gasping for breath as he finally, begrudgingly, allowed Itachi to put his arm around his shoulders and lead him into the college’s cafeteria – no, the campus dining hall. Itachi had to continuously correct him of that. Deidara didn’t really see what the difference, but Itachi insisted on the correct term. The campus’ dining hall was much different than any other cafeteria he had been to. Here on the campus, the food was prepared there in the kitchen to order for the most part, not frozen and tasteless. No expenses had been spared; Professor Williams, the head mistress, wanted her students healthy, not just well educated. Deidara found himself enjoying the food as if it were a restaurant. Itachi let him get as much as he wanted, paying the woman at the entrance to the seating area with his dining card.

The blond rolled his eyes at Itachi as they sat down. He knew Itachi thought he was underfed. He had selected a number of smaller dishes and Itachi had put even more on his tray. This happened any time they went out to eat together, even at home. Not that Deidara would complain, he would eat it all because, well, he didn’t think he was underfed per se, but sometimes food was hard to come by on his own, especially now that school was over. Lack of money and resources was his choice of excuse, but he was at least trying on the money problem. Mikoto was always inviting him over for dinner, but he didn’t want to appear desperate and politely turned her down every so often. More than anything, he knew word would get leaked to Itachi about it and, as far as Deidara was concerned, Itachi had enough on his mind already.

As they sat down at a booth, Deidara made a point to add the chicken Itachi had put on his plate into the brunette’s salad and set the bowl of soup Itachi had selected for him in front of Itachi. “You need as much nourishment as I do,” Deidara interrupted Itachi’s protests. “I bet you skip meals to study, un.”

Itachi gave him a dirty look, which was all Deidara needed to confirm his accusations. “Yes, mom,” Itachi said, rolling his eyes. He’d eat the chicken, never one to turn down his favorite protein. The soup was a little much in his mind though.

“I’ll call your mom and tell,” Deidara threatened, grinning around a mouthful of rice.

“You wouldn’t dare,” Itachi glared, pointing at Deidara with his chopsticks. “I’ll tell Daichi you vandalized things at my school.”

“What would he do about it?” Deidara said, laughing at Itachi’s attempts to threaten him back. Setting an extra plate down on the table, he transferred the piece of salmon from his plate to the extra one and began mashing it into small pieces with his fork.

“I thought you hated salmon,” Itachi commented with a confused frown.

“It’s Baby’s favorite,” Deidara explained, reaching into his bag to draw out the sleepy looking ball of black and white fur Itachi had given him the day he left.

Itachi cringed as he watched the blond coo over the kitten that was yawning and stretching in his hands. He had no doubt Deidara had driven here on a motorcycle and he wasn’t sure he wanted to know how he’d managed to do so with a kitten on board. The blond must have misread his expression of horror fo confusion because Deidara rolled his eyes at him. “He’s a cat. Cats love fish,” he told him, setting him down on the table. His fingers stroked the kittens back as he sniffed and began to eat the pink fish on the saucer.

The unwanted runt of a litter, Itachi had found and given him to Deidara in hopes to give him company. He didn’t like the idea of Deidara being alone. Named after Deidara’s favorite dessert, the kitten had taken on Deidara’s fearless nature. Among the pictures and videos Deidara often sent him were ones of Milkshake as well. The kitten seemed bound and determined not to be taken lightly by anyone, or anything that stood in his way. Whether it be a dog, a mouse, a piece of string, or even Daichi. One of Itachi’s favorite videos was Daichi telling the cat to get off his desk and the kitten, staring pointedly at the mechanic, knocking a jar of pens off his desk, Deidara giggling hysterically from behind the camera. Finishing his plate, the kitten came over to Itachi and flopped onto his back dramatically with his feet in the air wanting his belly rubbed. 

Itachi couldn’t imagine him being anything but adorable. Much like his owner.

Smiling, Itachi reached over to rub the soft white belly. “Have you been good for mommy?” he asked the kitten, purring loudly under his fingers. Like Deidara, he had incredibly deceiving looks. “So? How was the end of eleventh grade?” he asked Deidara, leaning on the table with a warm smile.

“Horrible,” Deidara insisted as he adjusted the bandanna he’d been wearing for riding his motorcycle. “I barely had time to do anything fun with all the work I had to do, un!”

Itachi gave him a sympathetic look as he used his free hand to put more salad in his mouth. “How’d you do over all?” he asked. “Have you received your report card yet?”

“Well, the school board decided to give me half credit for the first two quarters, like you know, and I made up all the tests too, and did all the extra credit I could do for the last two quarters,” Deidara told him, frowning at the light above them as though there was a list posted there for him to read from. Itachi nodded, remembering the blond’s frustration. He hadn’t needed to make anything up for the time he had missed, which hadn’t been fair in his mind. During finals week, he and Deidara had barely any time together except when the blond snuck into his room at night – he had taken to leaving his window cracked open for his night time visitor. He missed sleeping with the blond. His dorm bed was pathetically empty. Deidara continued, “then there was normal tests and projects and regular homework, and this crap they wanted us to do for colleges and job interviews and next year’s scheduling…”

“Mental overload?” Itachi asked with a smile. Deidara was a lot smarter than people at that school gave him credit for, but he was just not made for high school academia. It was a shame he had another whole year to go before he was done with high school.

“Completely,” Deidara muttered, reaching into his side bag again to pull out a slip of paper. Itachi raised an eyebrow and put down his fork, recognizing it as a report card. Taking it from him, Itachi unfolded it, holding his breath as he looked down, fearing what was on it.

“Shit! Deidara you went from literal rock bottom to nearly the top in your class last quarter!” he cried, staring at it wide eyed in disbelief.

“Yeah, my teachers all thought I cheated so they rewrote a few of the exams and made me take them again, un,” Deidara told him, obviously proud of himself.

“Dei…this is…incredible,” Itachi shook his head and handed the paper back to him. “Congratulations.” He leaned over the booth to give him a kiss. “I knew you’d do well, but I never expected this.” He knew he didn’t really need to feed Deidara’s ego. It was already larger than most, but he was happy for him and knew the blond loved praise. “I should have gotten you ice cream.”

The blond beamed happily as he put the paper back into his bag and continued to eat his food. “So what are we doing today?” he asked when he was certain he wasn’t going to get anymore praise out of him.

“Well, since you did surprise me,” Itachi began. Deidara grinned again. “I didn’t really plan anything, but I can show you around campus and my room, then we go for a drive if you want. There’s a few places in the town nearby that are okay. We could get Milkshake a collar. You know he’s supposed to have one on at all times?”

“I got him one,” Deidara insisted. “He just wont wear it outside the house, un.” The kitten mewed loudly at them, almost in agreement as he began sniffing at their plates, snagging a piece of Itachi’s chicken before he could stop him. “I think he thinks it makes him look prissy. He likes looking tough.”

Itachi snorted. “He’s a perfect match for you then.”

Deidara snickered as well, finishing his plate and downing the rest of his juice. He picked up Milkshake and tucked him into the hood of his hoodie for him to ride in. “So, you have a roommate right? What’s he like?” he asked as they took their dishes to the drop of area.

“You’ll probably see him soon,” Itachi told him, leading him out of the cafeteria and down the hall towards the dorm wing. “Let’s go there first so we can drop your stuff off. We’re not supposed to have animals here,” he added in an undertone.

“No worries, he’ll be quiet, un,” Deidara assured him as they began climbing the stairs.

Itachi’s dorm room was on the fifth floor and sadly elevators were only to be used by the disabled. It was a great disadvantage to carry all his books up and down all those stairs, but – as Deidara had told him once over the phone when he mentioned it, he could always make friends with someone who needed to use them. Itachi had yet to do such a thing. The school was huge, dorms and classrooms separated by the gym and assembly hall in the middle. Each floor of the dorms were divided in half by a large bathhouse. Each dorm had a single shower, sink and toilet – double sinks for two person dorms like Itachi’s. The school had given the Uchiha a full ride, but he was to pay for the dorm if he wanted a single. Not wanting to burden his mother with the cost of a single dorm, he decided to go ahead with a roommate. He had never shared a room with another man before. Actually he’d never shared a room with anyone at all before. It wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be, or maybe he was just lucky. Despite their different opinions on things like socializing – Itachi hated it, his roommate loved it, sports – Itachi liked basketball, his roommate loved rougher sports like rugby and American football, he got along well with the man and his laid back ways. He’d warned Itachi that he could get nasty when he was mad, but Itachi had yet to see him more than annoyed at something. Considering he was dating someone who was liable to explode when he got angry, Itachi was pretty sure he could handle nearly anything.

When they reached his door, Itachi pulled his key out and wagged it in front of him. “The doors lock automatically, so don’t go wandering around without knowing someone else is in the room,” he warned him.

“Or you could just give me a key,” Deidara suggested innocent, adjusting his bag on his shoulder.

“Ha-ha. No,” Itachi said, unlocking his door and opening it for the blond.

Before Itachi could get a chance to do the awkward ‘well, this is it’, Milkshake was thrust into his arms so Deidara could slip passed him and look around. Because the room was for two, everything was double. Two beds, two desks, two nightstands, two lamps, two bookcases. There was a tiny area by the biggest window where two chairs sat in front of a small table facing a television. Itachi didn’t use that area much except to sit and read when his desk became uncomfortable. His roommate loved the television and played video games during his study breaks. The Uchiha had gotten very good at blocking out the noise emitting from the obnoxious box. The blond checked out the bathroom, sticking his head in for a moment, then came back out and looked at the bookcases of video games, then inside the small mini fridge they were allowed to keep in the room. There was a small package of juice boxes which he grinned and took one. Itachi didn’t stop him, so he assumed it was alright to take. Itachi smiled as he watched him explore. He’d bought the juice boxes just in case the blond came to visit. He knew how much he liked them.

“Well, one thing’s for sure,” Deidara said, stopping in front of the beds. “The unmade bed with the martial arts posters is definitely not yours, un.”

Laughing, Itachi set the kitten down on the ground to let him explore this new world. Deidara set his bag down and pulled out Milkshake’s things and set them in the bathroom after making him smell it and showed him where it was. Back in the main room, Itachi picked the blond up, yelping out a laugh, and tossed him onto the bed furthest from the door, crawling on top of him. “This is my bed,” Itachi said, wrapping his arms tightly around the blond and nuzzled his nose into his neck. “Not as comfortable as the one at home, but it’s still good. Even better with you in it.”

Deidara’s throat vibrated under his lips as he made a sound of amusement. Familiar arms wrapped around his shoulders to pull him closer, Itachi obeying them instantly and lift his head up to kiss him. Everything about him was coming back to him like long off memory. When watching the videos the blond sent him, or video chatting at night before bed, he always tried to remember what it felt like to be this close to him. What he smelled like, the way he stood on his toes to kiss him, the taste of his favorite chapstick. He knew he would never forget those things, but it was hard to picture them when you were alone in bed. His fingers on his back hugging him, the way he liked to sleep on his back with one leg thrown over Itachi legs curled up against him. Finally able to feel it all again made his skin tingle with happiness because it was all he remembered and more. By the tight hold the blond hand on him, he was sure it was safe to assume that he had been missed as well.

Their reunion was interrupted by the door opening again. In walked the tallest person Itachi had ever known. When he stood next to his roommate, he knew how Deidara must felt standing around him. Deidara was short compared to Itachi, but Itachi was small compared to his roommate who had to duck slightly to avoid scraping his head on the door frame. Itachi lifted his head to give him a look of annoyance, though he had no way of knowing Itachi would have someone in here with him. In fact, the way the man stopped short and stared in disbelief made it clear how often anyone else came in their room. Deidara’s eyes were wide in shock at the man’s impressive height and Itachi suddenly wanted to see how cute and tiny Deidara looked standing next to him.

“I’m dreaming,” the man stated, blinking a few times. “There is no way Itachi had someone in bed with him.”

Itachi made a small grunt that was somewhere between a snort and a scoff and sat up. “Deidara, this is my roommate, Kisame. Kisame, Deidara.”

“The boyfriend,” Deidara said, giving a small salute. Itachi fought back a grin at the word.

“Nice to meet you,” Kisame said, tapping his finger against his dark blue hair to salute.

“And Milkshake,” Deidara said as the kitten came bounding out from under the bed to see who had come in. 

“Yeah, I’ve seen pictures of this guy,” Kisame said, bending down to let the tiny creature sniff his hand before scratching his head. “Don’t mind me, I’m just grabbing my car keys and stuff.” He went to his desk to pick them up from the hook on the side of the desk, then a duffle bag from next to his bed and turned to leave. Pausing at the door again, he glanced back at him, as if to make sure his eyes were deceiving him and shook his head. “I’m heading home for the weekend,” he told Itachi, then gave a smirk. “Don’t have sex on my bed.”

Itachi sputtered in protest of that happening while Deidara laughed and Kisame shut the door behind him. “Sounds like you’ve got a reputation here already,” Deidara commented, still grinning.

“He likes to party and hang out with lots of people,” Itachi explained, giving a small scoff. “He doesn’t get why I don’t.”

“Yeah, I’ve never understood that myself,” the blond teased, leaning back on the bed. “How come he knew who Milkshake was but not me, un?”

“I didn’t feel comfortable showing pictures of people to strangers,” Itachi reproached, frowning a little. “And I don’t talk about my personal life to everyone I meet up with.”

“You mean I’m just not important enough to mention or talk about when someone asks if you’re dating or something, un,” Deidara commented, rolling away from Itachi.

Startled, Itachi moved to face him, trying to turn him so he could see his face. “Dei… I didn’t mean it like that,” Itachi insisted. “I just don’t like being like those people who only talk about their dates and stuff like that.”

“Sure, sure,” Deidara muttered, rolling onto his stomach to press his face into the pillow.

“Deidara…” Itachi said softly, voice laced with worry until he managed to pull Deidara up a bit, seeing the grin splattered on his face. “Shut up,” he snapped, shoving him back down on the bed. Falling for that was pretty dumb. The snickering coming from the pillow was proof Deidara thought so too. Getting up, Itachi rolled off the bed and went to storm into the bathroom, irritated at being played by the blond. Despite, he knew, that Deidara was a master at playing anyone he wanted.

The blond followed him, diving to the floor to grab his leg before he could get inside the bathroom and shut the door. Itachi insisted he let go, but Deidara had his arms and legs wrapped around him like a koala, or a toddler who wanted to ride their parent’s foot for fun. “I’m sorry,” Deidara crooned to him, pouting up at him. “I was just teasing~ You looked so serious, un~”

“It wasn’t nice,” Itachi said, folding his arms to look down at him.

“So?” he cooed back, fingers sliding up his leg. This was worse.

“Stop,” Itachi ordered, placing a hand on the doorway to keep himself steady. Oh god, it felt so good and he hadn’t even done anything yet. The blond was once again demonstrating that he knew all the buttons to make him react, but Itachi suspected it was mainly due to being away for so long. ‘So long’, he mentally scoffed at himself. One month only and he felt sex deprived for years.

“Don’t wanna,” the blond stated, hands moving higher up his leg. He knew without looking that Deidara was smirking at him. He couldn’t look at him, because he knew if he did, they would never leave the room. The past month, Deidara had been harassing him with pictures and videos. Usually they were innocent, sometimes things of Milkshake, sometimes new cars that came in, sometimes clips from the races, a few times the blond showing off on his skateboard. He liked watching them and hearing the blond trying to fit whatever he wanted to say in a short video clip, which usually turned into two or three when he ran out of time. Sometimes, however, the blond would get the urge to tease him in the sickest ways possible and send him dirty videos or very suggestive pictures. It would have been fine, but Deidara had a knack for sending them while Itachi was in class. For not having a phone with a camera before, Deidara had mastered it pretty quickly and was using all his talents to mess with Itachi. Even when he received them at night, he refused to stoop low enough to pleasure himself despite the blond slowly making his willpower crumble. He would last. He would last and then he would bury his face in his pillow or take a cold shower until the feeling went away. He never told Deidara because he knew the blond would make fun of him, but having him so close and doing that was torture.

“K-Kisame might come back,” Itachi threw out, still refusing to look at him.

“I doubt it,” the blond sang up to him. Itachi made a small noise as the blond’s cheek rubbed against the growing bulge in his pants. “Not in public, but~”

“You are never going to let that go, are you?” Itachi said, feeling his cheeks burn.

“Never.” He made the mistake of glancing down at the blond, seeing his devious smirk.

Fuck.

“Well, I said… I said I’d show you around the school,” Itachi whimpered, glancing at the door again, still worried Kisame would come back.

“We can do that tomorrow,” Deidara reminded him, fingers undoing his belt and zipper, Itachi unable to bring himself to stop him. He gave a helpless noise, but pushed himself off the wall and moved to sit down on his bed, Deidara following after him looking mighty pleased with himself.


	19. Chapter 19

Itachi paused at his dorm room door and took a deep breath to calm his pounding heart and glanced at his phone. It was 9:42AM. He wrinkled his nose in distaste. He usually tried to return from his work out at 9 exactly which allowed him to shower, change, and go to collect breakfast on his way to classes which began at 10:00AM. It had been so hard to tear himself out of bed when it was so warm and full that particular Saturday. He had to force himself to detangle himself from the sleeping blond when his phone’s alarm began going off and begrudgingly left to begin his run around the campus building outside and then to the gym to work out as he did every morning. The whole time he had debating cutting his time short so he could return to bed, but he felt so energized this morning that he had ended up staying an extra thirty minutes.

Not that it truly mattered. If Deidara was awake before noon on a Saturday the world was probably ending.

Taking out his key, he quietly stepped inside and shut the door behind him, hearing the lock click automatically as usual. He set his keys and phone down on his desk and slipped into the bathroom to shower before coming out into the room in a fresh pair of comfortable track pants.

He smiled at his bed.

As expected, Deidara was still asleep, but he had shifted positions so that he was curled around Itachi’s favorite pillow that he had brought with him to school, hugging it tight against him with his long thick hair looking like a disheveled monster from sleep. Crawling up the bed, Itachi slowly sank down, half propped up on his elbow, half on top of the blond and pushed his hair off his face.

“Deidara,” he called softly. In his sleep, the blond took a deep breath and sighed out a questioning noise, but only hugged the pillow tighter. Itachi called to him softly again and he made another questioning noise, a little clearer this time. “Wake up, sleepyhead.”

“Nn…five minutes,” the blond murmured, barely audible. There was a sudden motion from the side of the bed and Milkshake suddenly popped his head up from where he’d come over from sleeping on Kisame’s bed – Itachi hoped his roommate wasn’t allergic to cats.

“Just five?” Itachi asked, stroking Deidara’s cheek, giving it gentle pokes to slowly wake the blond up.

Milkshake, however, was not as kind. He climbed up in front of Deidara’s face and threw his head back to yowl in an ear splitting kitten screech before pouncing on the blond face. Deidara groaned loudly and hid his face under Itachi’s pillow. “Five minutes!” he growled, though Itachi wasn’t sure if he was talking to him or the kitten who made the yowling noise again, Itachi staring at it in shock. Who knew such a little thing could make such a huge noise. The kitten leapt off the bed and pranced over to where his food and water dish had been set up and began smashing the metal bowls in an incredibly unignorable way.

Deidara made a loud, sleepy whining noise, but finally pulled his head out from its hiding spot and sat up, looking at Itachi with a miserable expression. “He’s hungry, un,” he explained, barely able to open his eyes. Rolling out of bed, Deidara went over to his bag and pulled out his kitten care package and filled the dish with wet and dry food and then the water bottle too. He paused to watch the kitten do a victory dance over the food before leaving him to eat and returned to curl back up to Itachi under the covers. “He’s such a dick,” he complained sleepily.

“Oh, yeah, I don’t know anyone who throws a fit when they’re hungry,” Itachi joked, grinning when Deidara smirked and gave him a halfhearted jab in the side. “Sleep well?” he asked, keeping himself propped up so he could look down at him.

“Mm... best,” Deidara replied, eyes closed as he seemed to be trying to fall back asleep. “Where were you this morning, un?”

“I went to work out,” Itachi said, a little surprised. “I woke you up to tell you I was going.”

“I was still asleep,” Deidara decided after a moment’s thought. 

“Were you worried when I was gone?” Itachi asked, smirking a little as he reached up the pinch the blond’s nose. Deidara really was falling back asleep because it took him a moment before he shook his head to free it so he could breathe and opened his eyes to give him a look. “Can’t sleep without me anymore?”

“I can sleep anywhere,” Deidara countered, rubbing his nose a little.

Itachi couldn’t deny that, but still smirked down at him. “And last night?” he asked, eyebrow raising. Deidara stared at him blankly. “Usually I use you as a pillow, but you were clinging like a baby koala last night.”

“I was not,” Deidara insisted, cheeks flushing slightly.

“Were too,” Itachi countered, smirk growing. “I had to pry you off this morning when I left for the gym.”

“Did not!”

“Miss me that much?” Itachi crooned, moving to lie on top of him to keep the blond from struggling in protest, but his resistance was minimal and he turned his face to the side in a huff. “I missed you too,” he told him, pretending he didn’t see the way the blond’s lips twitched a smile. “Can I ask you something?” he said after a few moments of silence.

“Hm?”

“Do I turn you on?”

Deidara turned his head to look at him oddly, trying to decide if it was an actual question or a hint. When Itachi just waited, the expression turned to confusion and into a look of fluster. Deidara hated being confused. “What?” he finally asked.

Itachi thought for a moment, choosing his words carefully. “You are incredibly good at turning me on,” he said, watching a smug look appear on the blond’s face despite his confusion. “Every time I see you. You know all the buttons I have and you do before even I know I like it. So I was wondering if I do anything that turns you on.” Deidara’s expression was annoyed, but Itachi suspected it was because he was still confused with the question, not annoyed with himself. While he seemed to think on the situation, Itachi reached up to play with a lock of his wild morning hair. “I ask,” he said when the blond didn’t answer. “Because I would like to remind you that I am not one of your clients.” He said it more forcefully than he meant to; Deidara just scoffed at him.

“Obviously,” the blond said, smirking and holding his hands up to demonstrate their emptiness. “Where’s my money, bitch?”

“Hey,” Itachi warned, tugging his hair. “I mean, I’m not one of your clients, so it doesn’t have to be all about me all the time. I want to know what you like… and what I do that you like.”

Deidara gave him a weird and confused expression and started squirming a little uncomfortably, but trapped under the covers with Itachi lying on top of him, he couldn’t go very far. Itachi waited patiently, knowing Deidara hated talking about himself and understanding why completely. It was the reason he wanted to talk about it. He wanted Deidara to not feel the need to put up walls around himself as some sort of protection as he had to when he was with clients or people who used him. Perhaps he had been reading too many psychology books in preparation for his classes, but he constantly found himself thinking about the blond. Deidara always let the focus be on Itachi and it was so smooth, he never noticed it until he sat and thought about it. He remembered times when Deidara actually tried dissuading him from making himself the focus during sex. Sometimes he wondered if Deidara had ever even had sex when it wasn’t for something else in return, so doing so felt awkward and nervous for him. He worried about his explosive monster a lot. The blond continued to squirm, chewing on his lip in his embarrassment, but Itachi didn’t change the subject like Deidara was hoping he would so he finally looked away to stare at the wall.

“I like when you play with my hair, un,” he muttered. “It feels nice.”

Itachi smiled happily and gave the lock of hair between his fingers another little tug. “Anything else?”

The blond made an unhappy noise and tried to turn his head further away so he didn’t have to see Itachi’s face in case he laughed at him. “I like kisses,” he muttered even quieter. “And I like taking naps with you and when you pick me up, un.”

Itachi blinked, tilting his head slightly to the side. “Pick you up?” he asked, recalling multiple times when he had picked up the blond princess style, kicking and protesting quite a lot.

“Yeah… like in the shower… and stuff,” came the grumble. Itachi had a vague memory of the first time they had sex, how Deidara had commented about how strong he was when he picked him up. He had done it several times in the shower too, crushing the blond against the cold tiles as the water beat down on them. He gave a slight self-satisfied smirk. The fact that Deidara was adorably embarrassed about all this made Itachi want to laugh, but knew that was something Deidara was worried about and if he laughed he probably wouldn’t tell him anything again. Instead, he leaned forward and nuzzled his nose against his neck. Deidara’s things he liked seemed so innocent compared to some of the things he liked about Deidara.

“Is that all?” the blond demanded gruffly. “This was a terrible way to wake me up, un.”

“Sorry,” Itachi smiled, reaching up to cup his face and force him to face him again so he could give him a kiss, though the blond kept his mouth firmly shut and didn’t kiss back, still annoyed. “Want to get some breakfast?”

“Fine.” The blond shuffled out from under him and climbed out of bed again. He hadn’t brought any sleeping clothes, so the blond was wearing one of his own tshirts and shorts. Itachi bit his lip and couldn’t resist, tugging the blond back down on the bed onto his lap and wrapping his arms around him.

“What the fuck, Itachi,” Deidara exclaimed, startled by the movement.

“See? You know them all,” he grumbled, kissing into his neck.

“What?”

“You didn’t bring extra clothes on purpose didn’t you,” he muttered, sliding his hands around to the ticklish spot on Deidara’s sides, grinning as the blond gave a shriek and laughed as he tried to escape. “Cause you know how much I love seeing you in my clothes.”

“It was an accident!” the blond cried, laughing hysterically as he desperately tried to escape. “Stoooop!!”

“Admit it,” Itachi insisted, following the blond to the floor and kept tickling him.

“I swear! It was an accident, un! Stop it! I’m going to piss myself,” the blond shrieked, struggling to get away. Grinning, Itachi rolled off him and let him bolt away and into the bathroom, making a lot of angry noises, but Itachi could see him grinning as he shut the door. Milkshake came over to sit next to Itachi, seeming to give him a once over then mewed loudly at him. Itachi rubbed the tiny kittens head then stood up to pull on clothes for the day.

After breakfast the two of them walked around campus, Deidara talking about everything that he had been up to as though they hadn’t talked nearly every day. They had left Milkshake in Itachi’s bathroom with blankets, the shirt Deidara had slept in and a toy that had treats inside so the small monster would be quiet when they were gone. Technically pets were not allowed on campus. Itachi told him about his classes briefly, but knew the blond didn’t care so much about them so he told him about his roommate and how Kisame was always trying to get Itachi to go to a party with him at least once, but Itachi never accepted. Sometimes the two of them did go to the gym together though. Itachi had started to open his mouth to ask if Deidara wanted to go with him tomorrow, but the blond said ‘absolutely not’ before the words were even out of his mouth. After they ate lunch, Itachi asked if he would be mad if he read one of his assignments and the blond said it was fine, but wanted to be outside. The summer day was warm and comfortable, so the two of them found a comfortable spot under the shade of a small tree. Itachi wasn’t surprised when the blond fell asleep while he worked, but even when he woke he seemed content to leave Itachi to his school work, his blue eyes scanning what he could see of the campus grounds.

Much longer after Itachi expected him to, Deidara spoke up.

“Itachi.”

“Hm?”

“Your school is dull as shit, un.”

Itachi gave a soft snort as he turned the page of his book before reaching around the blond and gently rubbed his shoulder. “Bored already? Are you going to leave me early?” he asked, turning his book upside down so he wouldn’t lose his page.

“No,” Deidara muttered the toes of his converses tapping together in his irritation. “I just mean like…” he gestured around the campus. “It’s different from high school.”

“That’s true,” he agreed. “I think it’s because no one has to show off to other hormonal teenagers here.”

“What if I want to show off, un?” Deidara muttered, holding up the elaborately folded paper airplane and letting it fly away from them. It soared an impressive distance before the light breeze caught it and flipped it into a circle to finally crash among the liter of planes the blond had been making during his moments of silence out of flyers and assignment instructions Itachi didn’t need anymore.

“You don’t need to show off,” Itachi muttered, burying his nose in his book again. “You already got me.” The blond rolled over to lay on top of him, peeking first over the book than under it at him before nudging his way to be between Itachi and his readings. “I do need to read this for next week,” Itachi scolded, but he was smiling as well.

“Do you always do absolutely nothing when I’m not around?” Deidara asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

“I read,” Itachi said, holding the book up for Deidara to see.

“Booooooring,” the blond chided, sitting up on his lap. Itachi grinned up at him and set his book back down, reaching up to pat his legs. “I bet you’re gonna be rusty when you get home and Daichi’s not going to want to race you anymore, un.”

Itachi frowned and sat up. “I wont get rusty,” he insisted, but the blond shook his head. “I still go driving.”

“Where? In a golf cart?” the blond smirked, pointing in the direction of the expansive golf course that could be seen from the window of the stairs they had used to leave Itachi’s dorm. “That’d be an interesting race, un.”

Itachi grinned at him and shook his head. “No, there are some roads that are pretty decent away from the town,” he explained. “It’s just difficult because I have to register my car with the school, so if I get caught or my license plate gets caught, I’m fucked.”

“Lets go on my bike then,” Deidara suggested.

“No way,” Itachi replied, shaking his head firmly. “I’m terrified of being on a bike with you,” Deidara smirked, “and I bet you didn’t bring an extra helmet.”

The blond’s smirk fell a little and he gave a grunt of acceptance. “I want to do something,” he whined, slumping against Itachi with his chin resting on his shoulder. “I don’t know how you don’t combust from boredom.”

“Usually I have a lot of inappropriate videos sent to me in the middle of class to keep me from being bored,” Itachi commented, narrowing his eyes accusatorily at the blond who smirked. “Not that I don’t like them,” he admitted, smirking himself, then added through gritted teeth, “but I’d appreciate it if you didn’t send them to me while I’m in class.”

Deidara laughed and rocked back a little on his lap. “I keep waiting for you to accidentally open it and have the volume turned up,” he admitted giggling as Itachi gave him a swat.

“You’re going to get me thrown out,” Itachi cried, but he laughed too, wrapping his arms around the blond and kissing him. “Want to go for a drive? I know a place you’ll like that I thought about taking you if you came up.”

“Oh? You’re so certain, un?” Deidara asked, eyebrows rising a little.

“Well,” Itachi corrected, twirling a lock of Deidara’s hair around his finger. “I think you will. I like it anyway. We could probably bring Milkshake too, unless you’re worried about him running off. I’m not sure how long he’ll be content in the bathroom.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he busted out already, un,” the blond commented. “I had to finally fix the lock on my window cause he figured out how to open it and follow me out when I went to smoke, un.”

They went back up to Itachi’s dorm to pick up the kitten who seemed to have been silent until the heard their voices and began complaining to be let out, his tiny paws swiping under the door before there was a small thud of a body hitting the door and the door handle jiggled a little.

Deidara let out a suppressed laugh and whispered as though he were worried the kitten would hear him, “he’s hanging onto the door knob trying to turn it, un.” He giggled and opened the door, the kitten bounding out and berating Deidara loudly for leaving him in there, using his tiny claws to scale his owner and crawl into his hoodie pocket to curl up as if he already knew that Deidara never went anywhere without his hoodie so if he was inside he wouldn’t be left behind. Deidara beamed like a fond parent.

“He’s so tiny,” Itachi commented. “And cute. Like you.”

“I’m not tiny,” Deidara protested with a frown.

“Yes you are,” Itachi argued with a grin, putting his hands under Deidara’s arms and demonstrating that he could easily lift him up. “I keep picturing you next to Kisame now that I saw you two in the same room.”

“He is huge,” he cried in a hushed whisper as if the man were in the room too.

Itachi gave a shrug. “Maybe compared to you he is,” he shot at him with a smirk, leaning over to kiss the pout that crawled onto Deidara’s face. “Let’s go.”

Deidara obediently followed Itachi out as the man grabbed his keys from his desk and together they walked through the hallways again, down the stairs and outside to the parking garage where Itachi’s car was kept. “Hey,” the Uchiha said as they climbed into the shiny and stunning as always RX-7. “Don’t break into anymore vending machines, okay? You’re going to get me in trouble.”

“Oh please,” Deidara said with a significant rolling of his eyes. “The stuff in there is overpriced anyway because everyone who goes here are rich snobs, un. And you wouldn’t get in trouble, I would.”

“No, I would, because you’re not really supposed to be on campus,” Itachi told him, turning the car on and pulling out of his place. “And I’m not a rich snob.”

“You are a rich snob,” Deidara insisted, looking amused. “You so are. You’re just… a bit cooler than most rich snobs.”

Itachi gave him a withering look as he took them through the streets of the campus and out onto the main road. He was not a rich snob. He was rich – or well, his family was rich, but he wasn’t a snob. In fact, he considered himself quite down to earth compared to most people he knew with money. He thought back to when he and Deidara had first met and cringed slightly. Maybe he had been a rich snob, but he didn’t think he was anymore. The country side flew by them as Itachi drove down the road, buildings slowly disappearing into farm land and later park land where forests were allowed to grow wild, rivers nearly free save for a dam or two. They didn’t say much as they drove. Itachi was content just to have Deidara close by, his hand resting on his inner thigh as it usually did when they went for a drive, petting his leg softly in a nonsexual way that felt oddly soothing, his blue eyes staring out the window at the new world around him.

Even though it was a familiar gesture, it still surprised and pleased Itachi when he did it. Affection wasn’t something Deidara showed very often.

Pulling off the main road onto a smaller one lined with trees and brush, Itachi shifted down into a lower gear that would be nicer for his car on such a road. He knew it wasn’t used to non-city streets, so he was going to be as nice as he could be to his baby. As the trees became thicker and the road more winding, he watched Deidara out of the corner of his eye as he sat up and began staring with more curiosity, wondering where they were going. The blond continued to remain silent, but knew that wouldn’t last long. Eventually, the blond’s curiosity would burst out in a question and it would be the end of the comfortable silence between them because, Itachi knew from experience, once Deidara started talking, he didn’t stop. He had grown up in the city, perhaps he wasn’t used to this strange area called nature. Itachi knew Deidara loved birds, but he didn’t think he spent much time away from his home.

“What’s out here?” Deidara finally asked, his hand sliding off Itachi’s thigh to press against the window, peering around more earnestly as Milkshake crawled out of his pocket. Itachi felt a coldness rush to his leg as the warmth of the hand left. He wanted him to put it back.

“You’ll see,” Itachi told him instead, smiling a little as he continued to drive. Not far now. He turned into a small, grassy parking lot and turned the car off. Keys getting tucked into his pocket, he announced that they had arrived and got out, quickly followed by the curious kitten who didn’t want to wait for Deidara to open his door. Startled, Itachi hurriedly tried to snatch the little body up, but he darted out of reach, running away to sniff around on the ground with his little tufty tail in the air. “Hey, hey!” he called, starting after him.

“He’s fine,” Deidara assured him, coming around the other side of the car. “He’s like a dog. What are we doing here, un?”

“I said you’ll see,” Itachi repeated. He would have rolled his eyes, but he was more worried about watching the kitten sniff around. He really was acting like a dog the way he was trotting around with his nose to the ground. Itachi had the sudden inspiration to pick up a stick to see if he would play fetch, but decided against it and reached for Deidara. “I found this place a week or so ago after I moved in. It’s nice.”

Deidara gave the place a once over, to search for its ‘nice’ features. “It’s very green,” he finally said, hands in his pockets. Apparently the only thing he saw was nice was that there was an abundance of his favorite color.

Itachi did roll his eyes at that. “Come on,” he said, taking his arm and leading him down the half hidden path in the trees, soon followed by a black and white blur on the ground that panicked when they disappeared from view.

When they broke through the thick trees, Itachi was pleased when the blond let out an exclamation of awe. Before them stood a small river, lined with trees whose branches hung over the flowing water and rocks with the sun shooting warm rays down through the leaves above. By hopping from one rock to the other, one could got to the outside and sit on the flat ground covered in grass and moss with more trees – a perfect place to take a nap or have a picnic. Itachi hadn’t tested it yet, but he was pretty sure the water was deep enough to swim a little in some places, particularly further upstream where someone had hung a rope swing over the water from a thick branch.

“Wow! Cool!” Deidara cried, instantly leaping out onto the rocks to explore, grin splitting his face in half.

“See? I told you you’d like it,” Itachi said, deciding not to go rock jumping in his school clothes and just walk along the edge to watch Milkshake sniffing at the water and staring at the minnows and crayfish that caught his attention in the shallows. “I thought this would be a nice place to hang out if you visited this summer…”

“Yeah totally!” Deidara called, continuing to rock jump across the river. Itachi beamed at him fondly. Deidara’s childish ways were so endearing sometimes. All the time. The way he acted was so unpredictable it was difficult to tell how he would react to certain things. Whether he’d get mad, or be pleased was entirely based on his current mood. While Itachi had said he ‘knew’ Deidara would enjoy this, he hadn’t really known. He had hoped that he would, if only for the fact that Itachi thought of him – them, when he found it. He knew his campus was boring, and wanted to give the blond a new playground for him to enjoy.

“Itachi!” Deidara’s voice called over the water where he stood on a rather large rock. “Come on!”

“I’m fine,” Itachi said, glancing down at his nice shoes, which wouldn’t give him the same grip on the rocks that Deidara’s converse gave. He grinned down at the kitten who was pawing at the water then leaping away, unhappy about wet paws. When he looked up again, he started in shock. “What are you doing? Put your clothes back on!”

“Swimming!” the blond said, dropping his shirt on the rock and sat down to untie his shoes. “Join me, un!”

“No!” Itachi cried, staring at him as he pushed his pants down too, standing back up again, completely naked. “Deidara! That water is probably freezing! You’re going to get si—”

Too late.

With a gleeful laugh, Deidara jumped into the water with a huge splash, coming back up to flick his wet hair off his face and turned to face Itachi. “Come on! It’s not that cold, un!” the blond called to him, grinning from ear to ear. “Its nice!”

Staring incredulously, Itachi folded his arms and frowned. “…no,” Itachi said. “I’m not swimming naked in a river. What if someone comes by?”

“Chicken!”

“No.”

“Pussy!”

“No!”

“Wimpy bitch!”

“…” Itachi glared at him who looked ridiculously pleased with himself. He was not a wimpy bitch. He was not a bitch at all. He was just modest and cautious. Deidara didn’t know what modesty was when it was at the expense of others. Huffing slightly, he unbuttoned his shirt to pull it off, telling Deidara to turn around while he undressed.

Well, of course Deidara wasn’t going to do that. He realized he had wasted his breath on that one as the blond smirked and propped his elbow up on the rock to enjoy the view. Muttering to himself, Itachi undressed, blushing slightly. He wasn’t shy, he was modest. He didn’t mind being naked in front of Deidara, but being naked in places that usually required clothes was a very strange feeling. He had no idea why Deidara wasn’t even slightly embarrassed as well, but that was Deidara.

Stepping out into the water, leaving Milkshake on the shore, yelling at him in warning over the horrors of wet things, Itachi waded out towards the blond. The water wasn’t freezing, but it wasn’t entirely warm either. He could feel goosebumps rising on his skin from the cold, but Deidara had just jumped right in, which was usually the best way to deal with a first swim anyway. Itachi didn’t want to be called a wimpy bitch again and so he put up with the chill and half swam, half walked over to where Deidara was waiting for him.

In this area of the stream, the water wasn’t that deep. It was up to Itachi’s waist – Deidara’s shoulders just visible. He was pleased he could clearly see the bottom, his toes sinking into the sand and pebbles as he walked, hoping those crayfish Milkshake had been staring at kept to the shallow area. He didn’t really want to get pinched.

“Happy?” he demanded when he reached the blond. “There better not be glass in the water.”

“Don’t worry,” Deidara said, leaping out of the water to drape himself over Itachi’s shoulders. “I’ll take good care of you if you step on a piece of glass, un.”

Itachi shook his head and sank into the water to propel them forward through the water. Without warning, he flipped over onto his back to plunge the blond into the water. Deidara came up sputtering and floundering but recovered quickly and tried to leap onto Itachi again to drag him down, but as Itachi was taller than him, it was difficult and Itachi only threw him back into the water, laughing as the blond emerged with his hair hanging over his face like a sheet. The blond slipped under the water again and swam over to him, Itachi watching him a moment before he remembered Deidara played dirty and scrambled to get away as the blond’s hands shot out to grab for him under the water. Catching the blond’s wrist, he dragged him up out of the water again and wrapped his arms around him to give him a bone crushing squeeze.

“Nice try,” he said, walking them across the river and dragged him up onto the mossy bank. “You look like a soggy merman,” he told him, grinning as the blond pulled his hair off his face again.

“I just got my legs,” Deidara announced, raising one up high into the air. No modesty at all.

“Am I your prince?” Itachi asked with a smirk, causing the blond to laugh and give a humorous shrug. “I missed you so much.” He trailed his fingers over the blond’s chest. 

“I might have missed you a bit too,” the blond murmured back, his leg going back down, his arm wrapping around Itachi’s neck. “How about I stay all summer, un.”

Itachi sighed at the hopeful look Deidara was giving him. “I’d love it if you did, but I’m not allowed to hide boyfriends in my dorm. You’d be really bored anyway. I can’t play as much as I could in high school. I know you. You can’t stay out of trouble for longer than a day. You’d be so bored. And then we’d both get in trouble.”

“That sucks,” the blond grumbled, dropping his head back down on the ground.

“Until you have to go,” Itachi said, leaning down to rub his nose against the blond’s. “I don’t mind spending as much time as I can with you. How’s that?”

“I’d like that,” Deidara told him, stretching against the grass. Across the stream, Milkshake gave them an angry yowl and whine and the blond sighed. “Hang on, I’ll go get him.” Itachi grinned as he watched Deidara get up and cross the river to transport the kitten back over to the same shore. Back on solid ground again, Deidara returned to flop down on the ground next to Itachi, sighing happily under the rays of sunshine, ready for a nap as Milkshake began to sniff the ground on this side of the river.


	20. Chapter 20

Going home was the worst thing ever. Deidara officially hated it and he had only done it once so far. Normally, he wanted his life to be non-stopping and exciting, but after spending the whole weekend with Itachi, being lazy and relaxing, he found himself disappointed when it was over. He had been excited to be able to spend summer with Itachi, not being nagged about going to school or doing his homework, or working, but now Itachi had school in the summer too and he wasn’t allowed to stay with him. He was sure the dorm was big enough and Kisame seemed as though he didn’t mind that he was there. If he was honest with himself, he knew he wouldn’t be able to stay quiet and secret for long, but he’d been so happy and comfortable staying in Itachi’s dorm it had been tempting to try.

Kisame had arrived back to campus Sunday around noon, waking the two of them up from a nap. Itachi had finally gotten his time to read his books because Kisame had invited Deidara to play video games with him. Itachi’s mother had called, requesting that the blond visit for dinner which would cut his and Itachi’s time down three hours less than Deidara had intended. Deidara had no idea Itachi was capable of pouting the way he had when he had answered the phone for the occupied blond. A spoiled little rich brat tantrum building up, but in the end, Itachi had said that his mother sounded as though she wanted to see Deidara and he didn’t want the blond to turn her down. So after one more round of gaming and saying goodbye to Itachi, the blond left.

The white and brick house surrounded by gardens that had bloomed through the course of spring turning into summer hadn’t changed since Itachi left, but it still felt a little empty knowing he wasn’t there. Deidara was sure Mikoto had ESP – either that or she had been waiting by the door to open it when he walked up. She smiled fondly at him, swooping him up in the hug she gave him every time he came over, though he couldn’t seem to get used to it yet. She smelled like kitchen, but not in a bad way.

“I’m so glad you could make it,” she said, pulling him into the house with her usual warm smile. “How is Itachi? Did he seem alright?” She led him into the kitchen to sit him down at the less formal kitchen table as Sasuke came down the stairs to help set up dinner.

“Hey, Deidara,” he greeted, pulling glasses down from the cabinets. “How was Itachi?”

“Drowning in boredom,” Deidara told them, grinning as he helped carry the dishes to the table. “Seriously, it’s like the dullest place ever, un. So he was right at home.”

“Has he been eating well?” Mikoto asked with attempts to sound casual, but failing miserably as she sat down to eat.

The blond snorted a little. “He looked okay,” he replied, sounding like he was going to get tricked into tattling. There was no way he was going to tattle on Itachi without good reason, though there really wasn’t enough to actually tattle? What was he going to say? He was acting just how he did before he left? Studying like a madman and forgetting to eat sometimes. Silently shaking his head, he sipped his cranberry juice Mikoto had poured for him and began to eat the delicious meal.

“Itachi told me his roommate’s ‘strange’,” Sasuke said, making air quotes. “Did you meet him?”

Deidara laughed at that. “He isn’t strange,” the blond insisted. “Kisame is a normal guy. Itachi’s the weird one, un. Earlier today, me and him played video games while Itachi sat at his desk reading. He is a giant though,” he commented, waving his hand vaguely above his head. “He’s like almost 200CM tall. He’s gotta duck to get in the room, un.”

After eating, which consisted of Deidara continuing to tell them what he and Itachi had done together, Deidara excused himself to climb up the stairs to the second floor. He hadn’t asked, but he wondered as he stared at the first door on the right at the top of the stairs if Itachi’s room was still the same. He supposed if Itachi was gone for four years it would make a decent guest room, but… it was Itachi’s room. Turning the handle, he pushed the door opened and held his breath, a smile widening on his face as he dared to crack an eye open.

Nothing had changed inside. Itachi’s bed was still where it always was, positioned in the middle of the room, parallel to the window. His desk was still there with his computer, his bookcase still stuffed with books even though Itachi had taken many of them with him to school. Slipping inside the room, Deidara crawled on top of the bed with a heavy sigh, snuggling into the mattress and remaining pillows. His blankets and things were still there, but Itachi had taken his favorite pillows. Rolling up to Itachi’s side of the bed, he hugged one of the remaining pillows close to his chest as though it were Itachi himself.

What was wrong with him? He was used to being alone. He liked being alone. Of course, he liked being around people, but if he was alone, no one could turn on him. For years and years, all he wanted was one night alone without anyone around him so he could relax and sleep without someone touching him, doing things to him, or himself needing something to shut his brain off at night. Now in a matter of months he’d been reduced to wanting someone there all the time. He wondered how long it had been since he had stopped needing something to fall asleep. Not just any someone though. He wanted Itachi here. He missed the body warmth snuggled up against him, always complaining about being cold. Now Itachi was gone and leaving that school today had been harder than he thought it would be. He hadn’t realized how much he had missed him until Itachi had given him a kiss goodbye after he got on his motorcycle.

“You miss him?”

Deidara jumped a little at the sudden voice at the door. Mikoto smiled at him as she walked in. Gruffly, he shook his head and shoved the pillow he’d been hugging away, folding his arms. Yes, he missed him, but he wasn’t going to be a baby about it. What did she think he was? Ten years old?

“I miss him, too,” she said softly, sitting on the edge of the bed and reached over to rub his shoulder. “Sounds like you two had a lot of fun.”

“Yeah,” he said, not looking at her. “I wanna go back soon, un. I wish he could come home for the summer.”

“You’ll see him soon,” she told him with a smile. “Soon you’ll be driving up there again. And Itachi will be home after summer sessions. Don’t be sad.”

“I’m not sad, un,” he grumbled at her, pouting into the pillows. Never. He would never admit to something like that. He didn’t get sad. Things weren’t fun if they lasted a long time. He refused to be sad. If he did, he would be denying everything he had made for himself. His art, his life…everything. His things didn’t last. He wasn’t sad. Friends didn’t last. He wasn’t sad. The races didn’t last. He wasn’t sad. His parents didn’t last. Things broke, they didn’t last. That was just the way life was and it was also what made life worth living.

“Deidara…It’s alright,” Mikoto’s voice broke through his thoughts again. Her hand reached over to cup his cheek, gently pulling him over into a hug. “It’s alright,” she continued to murmur, her hand rubbing slow, gentle circles on his back. He sat almost ridged, the gesture something he wasn’t used to at all. He didn’t understand why she did it either, until she brushed his cheek, her fingers coming away wet.

Touching his own cheek in surprise, he stared down at the tears in shock. He never cried…ever. He hadn’t cried since as long as he could remember and didn’t understand why. Mikoto didn’t seem to care. She simply pulled him back into her warm, motherly hug and continued to rub his back.

His embarrassment never had a chance to develop. His phone beeped for a text message. Shifting to pull it out of his pocket, he opened the message, suddenly desperate to get out of this situation. He’d even say yes to a client at this point.

It was Daichi.

‘Back?’

‘Yep’ he replied.

‘1457. Veyron 16.5. Need you.’

Perfect. Even better. Deidara smirked and slipped out of Mikoto’s arms and stood up. “Sorry, Ms. Mikoto,” he told her. “Daichi wants me, un.”

“Alright, Deidara,” she said, smiling up at him, but she also still looked concerned. “Are you sure you’ll be okay?”

“Of course,” he assured her, rubbing his face roughly then giving her his usual smirk.

“Don’t be a stranger,” she told him.

“I wont,” he promised, hurrying out of the room and down the stairs. He called a goodbye to Sasuke as he stuffed his feet into his shoes and hurried out to his bike, pausing there to tie his laces and put his helmet on. Kicking his bike into gear, he pulled out of the everything-must-be-perfect neighborhood. He had hated the place at first, but with the Uchiha family here and Uchiha Fugaku gone, he was visiting it more than he ever expected. Right now, however, that place wasn’t important. What was important was the text. Location. Prize.

Just got home and back to work. Not that Deidara was complaining. For a Bugatti? Hell, he’d put off Itachi for that. He knew the feeling would most likely be mutual. Itachi was going to be so jealous when he told him. He hoped Daichi would let him drive at least a little bit after he won it for him.

It had been a while since he last raced. He had wanted to finish second to last year of school as the best. He didn’t want people to think he was only smart because Itachi had been helping him. Plus the stunned looks on teachers’ faces when they saw his grades had yet to get old. Daichi’s team mocked him, but Daichi had been thrilled. He even offered to pay for cram school in the summer for him, but Deidara had solidly refused. He wanted to do well, not rot his brain away with extra school. Either way, Deidara had no time to race and his pay from Daichi had dropped immensely. He hadn’t told Itachi that, and he was getting angry at himself for resorting to the things he had to do to get money. It probably would have been better to race than this, but races were unpredictable and Daichi didn’t always need him to race. He needed money. Money for gas, money for Milkshake, money for drugs, money for food. Sometimes he knew Itachi was too good for him. Most of the time he tried not to care.

He did want to stop. He did. He just couldn’t. His life wouldn’t allow it.

Arriving at the location, Deidara quickly found Daichi’s team and parked his bike, smirking as a few people yelled at him for nearly hitting them with his bike. “Yo,” he greeted, pulling his helmet off.

“Welcome back,” Daichi said.

It was noisy in the new location, the parking garage making everything echo. It had been so quiet at Itachi’s school. He blocked it out. He didn’t listen to the music, or the people talking around them. His senses began to dull, as though he were going into a tunnel. Daichi’s arm went around his shoulders, giving him a good shake.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” he muttered, giving him a dark look.

“Miss Itachi already?” Daichi asked, grinning at him.

“No,” Deidara snapped defensively. “Who am I racing? Where do we start here, un?” He started for his bike again, but Daichi held him still.

“Not that way, kiddo,” Daichi said.

They wanted Deidara in a car for safety. He hated cars. They wanted matched vehicles and didn’t want either driver harmed. As he led him through the crowd, Daichi gave him a brief rundown. He was putting up to of his rare end cars against the Bugatti. The other team had wanted someone else to race, but Daichi had insisted that it be Deidara behind the wheel. Deidara wasn’t sure what cars Daichi was putting up, but he didn’t care. He hadn’t lost yet. It was just a matter of how to go about winning that he had to worry about. He had been excited about racing for that million dollar car, but now, here with all these people making grabs and gropes for him as he passed – much braver now that Itachi wasn’t here – he found he had no motivation. If that’s what tears did he was definitely never spilling them again. He was content to blame the tears because otherwise it would be his weakening personality in the absence of his taller shadow. If Itachi was here watching that would be another story. He loved showing off for Itachi. What had been his motivation before? Being the best. He was the best. Drugs. He was trying to quit. Money…yeah, he still needed money. Superficial affection and attention. That was easy to get, but he had more than superficial affection now. He still needed drugs too, but to get all that… ugh, that stuff just didn’t seem so much fun anymore. Ugh.

“Race to the top,” Daichi was saying. “Same old.”

“In a car?” Daichi asked, trying to sound less concerned and just grouchy.

“Yep. My car,” Daichi said, handing him his keys. “Don’t fuck up my car, Deidara.”

“Hey, you’re the one who agreed to let me drive in a car, un,” Deidara grumbled bitterly, taking the keys from him and getting into the car. How could you race here and not fuck up a car? While the machine wasn’t to his liking, he wouldn’t deny that the engine powering the Z wasn’t a pushover. Daichi loved this car and put a lot of work in it. He revved the engine at the starting line, impatient to begin. In front of him, people were spraying the start line while the driver he was racing against pulled up next to him. The wait made his heart begin to pound with the excitement his body remembered, heightening his senses, but his mind wasn’t really in it. It needed to be. Otherwise he would lose, or crash Daichi’s car when Daichi trusted him to win this. He had to focus.

Focus.

Focus.

“Deidara.”

The sound of his name made him jump with a start, completely shattering that concentration. He looked over at Daichi calmly leaning in the passenger side window, watching him break out into a small panic. Shit. He hadn’t wanted Daichi to see him like that and think less of him. He didn’t show any judgement on his face, just looked on with a calm, slightly bored expression as usual.

“Been a while, huh?” Daichi said before the blond could compose himself. The calm was unnerving to Deidara. Way too calm. As though he hadn’t bet a nice car and money on this race that was depending on his driver to win it. His driver, who was currently trying to look like he wasn’t panicking.

“I’m fine, un!” Deidara snapped, loosening his death grip on the steering wheel.

“Good,” Daichi said with a nod. “What’s up? You seem distracted.” Daichi’s coal black eyes stared at Deidara’s blue ones until the blond had to look away. “You miss him that bad? You just saw him this morning.”

“I said I’m fine, un!” Deidara growled. “I’m not dependent on people!”

“I know you’re not,” Daichi said, smiling slightly. “Look. I was asked to keep this a secret,” he added, leaning slightly into the car. “I told Itachi you were racing and he’s watching through the video stream. He asked if you were okay without him being there and aren’t just putting on a face when he sees you.”

“What?!” Deidara cried, startled. “Are you lying to get me to focus more?”

“If I wanted to do that, I’d have done it in a less obvious manner,” Daichi said, standing up. “You can check the listings on the phone connections. Itachi’s is on there.”

“That fucking sneak,” Deidara muttered under his breath.

“Hey, at least I told you,” Daichi said with a shrug. “So stop being a Debbie-downer. It’s not like you and Itachi’s going to get worried and feel bad for leaving.”

“Now you are try trying to make me feel bad, un,” Deidara rolled his eyes and hit the button to make the window go up. Daichi shrugged and backed away, going over to his place with his candy to watch the start of the race.

Scanning the crowd, he found Sakaya who usually did the video streaming on her phone for members of Daichi’s team. She was standing still, carefully holding her phone up to record the start of the race. He pointed two fingers at his eyes, then jabbed them at her phone with a cranky expression then rolled up the driver’s window as well. That bastard was spying on him. Could he see through his mask and knew something was wrong? Had he actually been as clingy as Itachi kept teasing him about when he was sleeping with him? Maybe he was just worried that Deidara was off with other people when he was gone. Not clients. When asked, Itachi always said clients were just work. Maybe he was worried about these other people. Didn’t Itachi trust him? No, not if he was smart. Deidara wouldn’t trust himself at all. Still, he couldn’t believe Itachi was spying on him.

Spying, but also watching. Watching the races, probably whining about the cars that were being put up. Deidara grinned a little. Itachi didn’t have to worry about him. He was being trustworthy. And there was no way he was going to lose, because now he was showing off. He couldn’t mess up. He was king on this racing lot and no one of these pricks had bested him yet. And Itachi was watching.

His grin slipped into a devious smirk.

He had a reputation for destroying cars and they had let him race in one?

Daichi was an idiot.

He’d be nursing his baby car back to life tomorrow.

That other guy can kiss his car good bye now.

He shot a sideways glance at the other driver, but only for a moment. The thought of Itachi watching brought the excitement back up. The high he’d get from the adrenaline rush. The danger he loved to challenge. The party afterwards… He licked his lips a little, eyes locked on the street ahead.

Ready…

Set…

“GO!”

Tires screamed, people cheered and the world began running in fast forward as the opposite wall came closer. Everything was loud and rushed by on a bike as you fought passed the wind. The car did that for you and silenced the world around him. He didn’t like that. He hated the silence, the muteness of the car. The tires squealed, the engines roared, but it wasn’t enough as he pelted towards imminent death. The car next to him slowed a fraction to take the turn, but Deidara had already started his sharp turning drift at high speed. The wheels scrambled for a grip on the pavement as he swung in an arch around the turn. There was a painful sound as metal scraped metal and metal scraped concrete and he suddenly remembered he couldn’t take corners in a car the same way he did on a bike. Spun into a 180 angle, Deidara had a brief second of slow motion, where he saw Daichi cringing unhappily, but the blond didn’t care. Shouldn’t have let him drive then.

At the top of the lot, he rolled out of the car laughing in exhilaration. He won by a lot, though Daichi’s Z was going to need extra beauty rest after smashing into the other car once and taking a turn a little too sharply. People swarmed over him, pulling him to his victorious feet. They patted him, they lifted him up in their own rushes of adrenaline. Daichi seemed torn between looking pleased and being angry, muttering that Deidara better be at work tomorrow to fix his car.

Deidara laughed and slipped away from all of them, pulling out the green phone Itachi had gifted him and opened the video streams, searching. He saw Itachi’s number drop off the viewing list and smirked. Sneaky sneak. He was hiding now, but Deidara sent him a direct video request, smirk widening as the dark haired man came on the screen.

“Hey sexy glasses,” he said.

“Shut up, I’m studying,” Itachi told him with a roll of his eyes.

“Really? Studying for school or studying something else?” Deidara asked, raising an eyebrow.

“What else would I be studying for?” Itachi asked, his best poker face on. He held up the thick textbook he had open to show that he was studying.

“Hmm?” Deidara crooned, ducking away from a drunken arm that tried to use him as a support. “I saw you on the video list. Were you spying on me?”

“I’m allowed to watch the races if I want,” Itachi said indignantly, turning his nose up a little.

“Why’d you jump off the second I pulled my phone out?”

“Kisame came in,” Itachi said, then glanced away, realizing that his dorm room was empty, then turned back looking a little ashamed of himself. “Sorry. I was just curious.”

“It’s alright,” Deidara said, poking his tongue out a little. “Did you see the whole race, un?”

“Yes,” Itachi said, his smile returning as he picked up his pencil to do some form of work while he talked to him. “It’s equally terrifying to watch you race in a car as it is to watch you race on a motorcycle.”

Deidara smirked. “Did you see the car?”

The pencil paused. “…Yes,” Itachi replied, a little more gruffly. Deidara had been right, he was inwardly whining. “Go have fun. I’m sure there’s going to be a party later.”

“Want me to call you later?” he asked, pouting a little at being sent away. Even if Itachi wasn’t studying before, he was now which meant Deidara had to leave Itachi alone. “Daichi says I have to work tomorrow to fix his car, un.”

“You don’t have to call me. I wont understand a thing you say anyway cause you’ll be too drunk,” Itachi said calmly, ignoring the expression Deidara was giving him. It disappeared the instant Itachi looked back at the phone again, smiling and giving him a kiss in the air before disconnecting the video call.

Aww. He had given him a phone kiss. That was cute enough to feel a little heart tug.

Tucking his phone away with a grin, Deidara turned back to the throng preparing for another race or just partying. Itachi had given him permission to party and he was going to party hard.

The whole summer passed like that. Deidara drove up to see Itachi ever weekend chance he got, using the money he won from the races and working for Daichi to pay for his gas. He couldn’t go as often as he wanted, kittens were hungry creatures and vets were expensive. Itachi had left him money for Milkshake, but he hadn’t touched it. Having extra money was something dangerous for him, so it remained on Itachi’s desk. When he wasn’t at the college, he was at the garage, fixing cars for Daichi or painting design commissions for other racers. Occasionally he was invited to a swimming party, a pool far better than the broken fire hydrant at the skate park, but most of the time the parties were hosted by the same rich people Deidara was trying to avoid. Yet there were times he couldn’t stay away, too hot or too tired or too broke to care. Mikoto had been talking about getting a pool installed in the Uchiha’s backyard, which Deidara would have preferred, but she never seemed to get to it. As much as he hated school, summer was never very much fun. It was always too hot and it was so hard to deal with people he didn’t like when he was hot. Itachi may have the mindset that clients were work, not cheating, but Deidara was getting less and less interested in making them happy. If only they could just give him money for existing that would be preferable.

Midway through July was the end of Itachi’s summer classes and he had a week break until the second session of classes began. Normally, Itachi would have stayed at school to work, but as the days crept closer to his break, he found himself day dreaming of his home, his bed, and the garage. The drive back from his school was something he doubted he would get used to. He couldn’t imagine how Deidara managed to do it so often and felt a little guilty that Deidara was always the one to visit instead of the other way around. Somehow it always seemed like he had too much to do to actually drive home. The benefit of this drive was that he had discovered many podcasts he enjoyed and audiobooks he could rent from his school’s library. Listening or reading books when he was in his room felt like a waste of time when he could be studying, but he found that listening in his car didn’t feel as much of a waste. Still, it was an extremely long drive. He had intended to come home tomorrow, arriving in the late evening after his Friday class was over, but his teacher had emailed them announcing the final exam scheduled for Friday was to be a written exam that the students could submit by Friday at midnight. He had quickly written the exam after his Thursday classes so he could turn it in early and leave that night to spend more time at home.

The streetlights buzzed quietly in the late night, illuminating sections of sidewalk and acting as a beacon for the summer bugs. Itachi stretched as he stepped out of his car, sighing happily at the familiar smell of the city and Daichi’s garage across the street. It was still well lit, though its doors were shut the smell of oil and gasoline still seeped out into the streets. Locking his car, he crossed the street to the side door and found it unlocked so he put his keys away and went inside. The clock on the wall said 12:43AM, but there were still voices in the main garage. Daichi stood in front of a truck, arms folded as he observed his remaining employees discussing engine parts. They stopped when he walked in, happily greeting him as he walked over to shake their hands.

“Late night?” Itachi asked Daichi as he released the man’s hand.

“Just tinkering,” the mechanic shrugged. “Thought you were coming back tomorrow. Don’t tell me Deidara’s convinced you to skip. I didn’t think he’d rub off on you that easily.”

Itachi grinned and shook his head. “Finished my finals early, so I wanted to come home,” he explained. “Do you know if he’s out?” he added, wondering if he’d be able to find the blond if he was out working. He wanted to surprise him.

“He’s actually sleeping in the bunks,” Daichi said, jerking his thumb back towards the closed door.

“Thanks,” he said, leaving them to go to the sleeping area of the garage. He paused as he looked back, frowning a little. The people who were still here were Daichi’s regular employees, all but two lived here in the garage. They were the ones he became closest to when he lived here for three months. There was a strange solemnness in the air that he hadn’t seen before. Someone seemed to be missing. Shrugging it off, he went inside and shut the door behind him, looking around in the dim light cast by the nearly closed bathroom door up to Deidara’s bunk. The curtain was closed, but there was a tiny light showing through. Climbing up, he gently pushed the curtain that offered the capsule bed some privacy. A small booklight was still on, giving the space a dim light that illuminated the sleeping blond curled up on the mattress with his covers shove to the side, unnecessary in the summer heat. The small black and white Milkshake was curled up like a hat on his head. He smiled fondly at him and carefully climbed inside.

Neither woke up as the thin mattress shifted slightly as he laid down, but the blond woke the instant he slid his arms around him, frantically shoving his hands away. “Go away!” he whined in sleepy panic as he shoved. “Don’t touch me, un! Just let me sleep.”

Itachi froze, startled by the reaction, then realized he was still half asleep, thinking Itachi was someone else. One of the ones who didn’t respect his privacy. “Deidara,” he called gently, taking the hand that was trying to sleepily shove him away. “Shh… Dei, it’s me.”

It took a moment, but the blond finally seemed to register his voice and cracked his eyes opened, blinking sleep from them as he stared. “Oh,” he murmured, his voice rough. “Hey…” He smiled sleepily and rolled to curl up against Itachi and fell right back asleep.

‘Oh, hey’ hadn’t exactly been the reaction Itachi had been expecting, but he still laid back down, wrapping his arm back around Deidara’s torso. Deidara usually stayed up way later than this; he wondered why the blond had gone to bed so early, but decided he would ask later. Milkshake had woke up when Deidara had moved and gave Itachi an annoyed look at the interruption, but readjusted himself to curl up on the warm spot where Deidara’s head had been. He decided to leave the kitten alone and looked back at Deidara, frowning at a few marks on the blond’s neck. Like he’d been strangled. He was about examine them closer when Deidara’s eyes snapped open and he sat up, staring down at Itachi in surprise. 

“Itachi? What are you doing here, un?” he cried, rubbing sleep from his eyes. “I thought you weren’t coming home till tomorrow, un…”

Itachi laughed softly. “That was a delayed reaction,” he commented, reaching up to give the locks of hair that had fallen from the messy bun the blond hair piled his hair into a tug.

“Sorry… I’m really tired, un,” the blond mumbled, stretching a little and laid back down. “I didn’t sleep through Friday did I?”

“No,” Itachi told him. “I turned my work in early, so I could come home early.”

“Sweet,” he stated with a sleepy grin.

“Why are you so tired?” Itachi asked, shifting his arm around Deidara’s neck to give him an extra pillow. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you willingly go to bed before 2AM… What happened to your neck?”

The blond was starting to fall asleep again, leg slipping over Itachi’s in his favorite sleeping position. It took him a few moments to answer and when he did his voice was a quiet murmured. “Been a kinda shitty week,” he told him. “Client…strangled me… like a sh…shithead…fuck that guy. Had a funeral…on Wednesday… pretty crappy…Didn’t get home till maybe… till maybe… lunch time today… yesterday…? What time is it…?”

“It’s after midnight,” Itachi told him, frowning a little. He wasn’t sure which of the statements to comment on. He gently touched the skin on Deidara’s neck, feeling sad that he had to go through those things. “Whose funeral?” he finally asked.

Another long, sleepy pause. “Haruo’s…”

Itachi blinked, lifting his head up to stare down at the blond. There had been one person missing from Daichi’s usual late night crew. Haruo had been one of his friends who played basketball with at the skate park. “Haruo? Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked, a little accusatory. Deidara knew they had been friends.

“Didn’t want to worry you,” the blond mumbled, barely awake now.

“What?” Itachi asked, dumbstruck. “Worry about what? Haruo was my friend, Deidara…”

“He OD’d,” was the mumbled sigh of response before the blond seemed to fall back to sleep completely.

Itachi continued to stare at him, shocked that the blond hadn’t told him. The others hadn’t said anything either. Maybe Daichi had expected Deidara to have told him, so he hadn’t messaged him about it either. Why would Deidara think he’d been worried? Finally reaching out, Itachi turned the light off and laid his head down on the pillow. Maybe Deidara thought Itachi would think of himself overdosing on drugs and be worried about the blond. That was the only explanation he could think of, but it seemed stupid to him. That was no reason to not tell him that one of his friends had died. He would have to tell him so tomorrow when the blond was actually awake, and also perhaps inform Daichi that Deidara was an unreliable informant of important things going on in the garage.

Unsettled, he nuzzled his cheek against Deidara’s shoulder, fingers gently stroking the scars and indents of Deidara’s inner elbow, forcing his mind to relax so he could sleep.


	21. Chapter 21

Itachi paced nervously in his room. The carpet in his path had become a distinct color from the rest because of his feet wearing it down. Today was going to go horribly bad. He knew it. He couldn’t believe he had forgotten about it, but maybe it was a good thing he did, otherwise he would have been a nervous wreck about it. If he had known, he would have arranged to be far away, possibly on another continent if he could manage, but then his mother would have scolded him. This wasn’t exactly how he wanted to spend his break between summer classes, but he couldn’t leave her and Sasuke to suffer alone with them. But it wasn’t going to just be uncomfortable this time. Sasuke had accidentally slipped to a cousin that Itachi was dating someone. And his cruel, homophobic, self-centered family had indicated they were looking forward to meeting Itachi’s girlfriend. Mikoto insisted that they should introduce Deidara as himself, but Itachi argued that the Uchiha family had already been out of sorts with their family because of Fugaku, and he didn’t want to cause more trouble for his mother. Besides, the whole Uchiha family knew Deidara was involved with Fugaku’s arrest. He certainly shouldn’t be here at least.

And then Deidara found out and insisted on coming with the most frighteningly devilish look on his face Itachi had ever seen.

Stressing out wasn’t going to help the situation at all, but he couldn’t do anything to relieve it. Deidara was going to do something and it was going to make something horrible happen. Sometimes Deidara just didn’t think things through the way Itachi did. Swallowing, he picked up a book from his shelves to distract himself when he heard a car pull up to the house and the front door open. Were they here early?

“Deidara’s here!” Sasuke called up from the living room.

Itachi groaned softly, pinching the bridge of his nose. This was going to be an utter disaster. He should just beg the blond to go back home. Or bribe him. Deidara liked bribes. His door opened and he turned to face what was sure to become an angry boyfriend, but his book fell from his hands with a loud thud, mouth dropping open completely speechless.

“I am dazzling, aren’t I?”

By the mischievous smirk, he knew this to be Deidara, but otherwise he was nearly unrecognizable. “You… you look horrible,” he blurted out before he could stop himself. “No, no. I mean – I – you… Wha—… Why are you… dressed like a girl?”

Deidara was laughing at him, the jerk. His usual t-shirt, torn jeans, and hoodie had been replaced with a light cardigan, a light creamy pink blouse that hung loosely around his hips over a pair of dark blue jean shorts that were a respectable length and tights that disappeared into little black wedge pumps. He was wearing makeup too. Not the black coal liner he wore to clubs. Delicate, fashionable girl make up with mascara, powder, gloss. Itachi couldn’t quite close his mouth properly.

“What a terrible thing to say to your girlfriend, un,” Deidara commented, pouting those shiny lips at him. “Don’t I look nice?”

Itachi stared at him in disbelief. He was dressed like a girl. A girl. Or rather, a woman. That was just so wrong on so many levels. When Deidara’s inquiring pout didn’t disperse, he gave a staggered sign and gave him another once over. The clothing gave the illusion of curves that was hard to decipher a gender. The make-up made his eyes look gentle and warm instead of the sharp cleverness they usually had. His eyes dropped slowly down to his crotch, feeling slightly worried how it was holding up in those pants, but Deidara lifted his blouse up to show that it was still there and intact. “I guess… your hair looks nice?”

“That’s all?” Deidara said, grinning at him.

Itachi frowned and held his hand up, sputtering as he attempted to find words to use. “You don’t look like you,” he finally said, letting the hand drop. “You look nice for a girl, I guess, but as a Deidara, I give a thumbs down.”

“Well, how about as the foreign exchange student at your school who you’re currently dating?” Deidara asked, holding his hands out in display.

“You kinda look familiar,” Itachi mused to himself, watching the blond flip his blond hair over his shoulder. He had given it large wavy curls and piled it up so it fell elegantly down one side.

“Hm… Is it some really awesome intelligent guy named Deidara? Cause that’d be weird,” he replied.

“Doesn’t he look pretty?” Mikoto said as she came into the room. “You’re very good at make-up, Deidara.”

“Thanks,” he said, grinning deviously.

“This is very kind of you, Deidara,” she said, adjusting the necklace around his neck. “I told Itachi you didn’t have to, but I do appreciate you doing this. Our family can be a bit…old fashioned.”

“No worries,” Deidara said, shifting his weight to balance on his heels. “Seemed like fun, un.”

The doorbell rang downstairs again and she went out again, leaving the two of them in the room alone. Itachi’s nerves shot up again and he looked at the blond in utter panic. “I can’t do this,” he whispered. “I don’t like being around them like this. What if they find out?”

Deidara took a step up to him and smiled, taking his hand and shaking his hand. “Don’t worry about it Itachi,” he said. “Who cares if they find out, un?”

“I… I don’t want them to,” Itachi said, swallowing hard. “I’m not embarrassed or ashamed, I just… they can be horrible.”

“They won’t find out. You’re the newbie here, un.”

“What? You’ve done this before?” Itachi asked, staring down at him.

“Sure,” the blond said with a grin. “Come on, let’s go. See a pro in action, un.”

When the two of them got downstairs, several other members of the Uchiha extended family had already arrived. All of them smiled and bowed to each other in greetings, all sickeningly polite. Itachi knew it was all fake. Their eyes were taking in the house and his family and each other. They fluttered around his house like royalty while bragging and gossiping among themselves. The ‘Fugaku Incident’ was a popular topic they were hounding his mother over. It spread across the room like a muttered plague. None of them believed Fugaku was guilty. Mikoto was the oldest of the main family, which didn’t want a female heading it, so Fugaku had taken the title when he married her. The Head of the Uchiha family wouldn’t do something that disgraced the Uchiha name. Many eyes fell on Itachi, scrutinizing him from afar as though searching for proof of the heinous act his father had been accused of doing. He felt himself shriveling under their stares, wanting it to stop. More than anything, the eyes locked on the blond at Itachi’s side, holding his hand tight. The brunette hated how they were evaluating him before they even had the courage to talk to him. They wanted to know if this outsider was good enough to be with someone with the Uchiha name, even though they thought little of Itachi. An Uchiha, however disgraced, was still better than an outsider.

Deidara was a much better actor than Itachi took him for. The wide, toothy, ear to ear smile Deidara normally had was just a shy upturn of his lips. He stood with Itachi like a protector, keeping him safe from these horrible people, listening and smiling, concealing his opinions of them. Itachi wanted to hide in his room and was close to bolting away, but that comforting hand in his own helped him stay. Sasuke’s strategy was to play with small children and avoid the adults all together. He wished he liked children enough to do that.

“Hello,” a brave great aunt said, breaking from the crowd to come over to them. “I am Uchiha Yasuko.”

“Nice to meet you,” Deidara said, his voice slightly altered to match his appearance. Itachi resisted sulking. He preferred Deidara’s real voice. “I’m Dei.”

“Please,” she said, holding her arm out in an elderly gesture. Deidara let go of Itachi’s hand and took her arm. “We would like to meet you.”

Itachi swallowed nervously, watching Deidara go off with his indomitable great-aunts and grandmothers. Trying his best not to look like a poor lost puppy, Itachi shrunk back into the corner to make himself invisible, but not fast enough.

“Takun!”

Itachi watched his cousin and childhood friend hurry over to him. “Hey, Shisui,” he greeted, keeping his voice neutral. Shisui was his friend, but he was also the family members most didn’t talk about. He was a year older than Itachi and was the one Fugaku had pushed him to be better than. Shisui was very smart and excelled in everything he did. He was kindhearted, artistic, and very creative. He was also the reason why Itachi was afraid of introducing Deidara as his boyfriend. Shisui was the perfect, hardworking genius the family wanted except that he was very open about being bisexual. In addition, he was particularly open about liking one specific boy who was currently wishing his boyfriend-pretending-to-be-girlfriend would return. When Shisui had announced several years ago, boldly to the whole family that he was in love with Itachi and wanted to be his boyfriend when they were older, the entire family was in a ferocious uproar. Shisui had all but been disowned after that.

“I missed you,” Shisui continued. “Last time I saw you was at your graduation, but you left before I could talk to you.”

“Sorry,” Itachi grunted, not really sorry since that had been the night Deidara had taken him for a ride on his motorcycle and to the club. If his memory served him – which it always did – that night had absolutely nothing to be sorry for.

“So how do you like your school?” he was asked as his cousin took his arm to peel him out of the corner to where Mikoto had set up snacks, small things to nibble on before dinner.

“Very well,” Itachi told him, taking up a plate and placing several items on it. “I like it a lot more than high school. How are your classes?”

“Great, but I got an internship at the design center, so I switched to part time,” Shisui told him. “I’d ask about your classes, but I don’t think I could stand it.”

“That’s alright, I’m not that interested in ‘History of Polka dots’,” Itachi commented. His grin faltered as he glanced over at him and realized that not only did Shisui not get the reference, but he was shocked that someone wasn’t interested in history of polka dots. Deidara, who had brought the movie on one of his visits for them to watch one night – “It’s like if I decided to go to your school, un”, would have gotten the reference and would have been impressed by his joke. He sighed and looked around for his fake girlfriend.

When he spotted the blond across the room, he had to purse his lips together to keep from laughing. Those pretty blue eyes were giving incinerating ‘back off’ looks at Shisui while still speaking politely to the older women behind him. Deidara had been right when he told Itachi not to worry, but as he watched the blond excuse himself from the group to come over, he felt a growing sense of dread. This might not end well. Deidara might be coming to kill Shisui for standing so obviously next to him. When the blond reached them, he wedged himself between the two cousins, nudging Shisui away as he smiled up affectionately at Itachi.

“Hi,” he said brightly, ignoring the expression on Shisui’s face. “Can I have some?” he asked in his soft, feminine voice that made Itachi’s skin crawl. He’d been so confused by his voice when they first met, so much deeper than his looks suggested. Now it matched and it seemed even more wrong. Deidara took one of the snacks from Itachi’s plate and took a bite, then held it up for Itachi to eat. Itachi gave a soft groan, aware of the expression on Shisui’s face behind Deidara as he obliged. “Hi, I’m Dei,” the blond said, turning to his cousin.

Shisui was frozen in his silent anger over being pushed away. His dark eyes took in the blond just as the other Uchihas had. “Shisui,” he said shortly.

“Oh, Itachi’s cousin,” he replied, bowing his head a little. “Nice to meet people from Takun’s family finally.”

Deidara was so sharp and clever it was terrifying. He must have over heard Shisui calling him that and was using it to piss him off. It seemed to be working well, his cousin was bristling angrily, fists clenched at his sides. Despite the shunning, Shisui was still an Uchiha. Polite even when angry. “Nice to meet you too,” he said tightly. “Are you a friend from Takun’s school?”

“Oh,” Deidara giggled, slipping his arm around Itachi’s waist. “Maybe more than a friend.” He looked up at Itachi with a warm, affectionate smile that Itachi could only halfheartedly return. He was half horrified, half afraid he would start laughing. Deidara stood up on his toes, kissing the corners of his lips and a small place in hell broke loose.

“What?!” Shisui cried, dropping his plate loudly to the floor. It shattered and Deidara scampered away from it. “You have a girlfriend?! But—what—!”

“Shisui!” a woman’s sharp voice silenced him, Shisui’s mother was standing with his grandmother, staring at the three of them. Itachi realized the whole house had gone silent and was staring at them. A glance at the blond with his back to the room showed the real Deidara, that deviously cruel intentions that hid behind his good girl mask. It lasted only a second before his face returned to his girl face, looking slightly worried in Shisui’s direction as if startled by his actions.

“Takun, you said you don’t date,” Shisui said in a much softer voice.

“I guess the right person hadn’t come alone yet, un,” Deidara suggested, leaning against Itachi.

Shisui looked both hurt and angrier. “Takun, you told me you like b—”

“You’re being awfully rude, un,” Deidara snapped, interrupting him. “Wanna go outside?” he asked Itachi, taking his hand and pulling him away from his enraged cousin.

“That was mean,” Itachi told him after the backdoor closed behind them. They walked across the backyard, passed the children and the few teenage Uchihas smart enough to volunteer to babysit to sit on the swing hanging from the backyard tree.

“He was drooling all over you, un,” Deidara said in his real voice. “Your cousin has the hots for you?”

“Uh…yeah. When I was eleven, he asked if I wanted to date boys or girls, then said he’d be my boyfriend when we were older,” Itachi told him in a mutter, sitting down on the swing and let the blond climb up on his lap before he began rocking it back and forth. “I’m sure you can imagine how well my family took that.”

“Your family is a bunch of egotistical shitheads, un,” Deidara told him. “I thought I was going to die with all those old bats. I’m glad you and your mom aren’t like them.”

Placing his hand on the small of his back to keep him from falling, Itachi smiled. “Are you sure I’m not?” he asked softly.

“I think you used to pretend you were, un,” Deidara replied, stretching a little. “Like at school. You were such a pain in the ass.”

“Luckily you knocked some sense into me,” he said, giving him a half smile. “Is it hard to speak so differently?”

“It’d be less hard if you didn’t keep making faces when I do, un,” Deidara laughed.

“Sorry,” Itachi smiled, then glanced back at the house. “Every time I hear it I think of you…working,” he muttered, feeling a bit ashamed. “Then I wonder…if you’ve ever entertained someone from my family like this before… or something.”

Deidara was silent for a moment, but it wasn’t an angry one. “That’d be a load of worms, wouldn’t it, un,” he commented.

“…Is…there someone here who…” Itachi was almost afraid to get the words out.

“Curiosity killed the cat, you know, un,” Deidara grinned at him, giving his bangs a tug.

“But satisfaction brought it back,” Itachi countered.

“What?”

“That’s the other half of that proverb,” explained Itachi.

“What?!” Deidara cried, sitting upright. “Daichi’s been using that on me for years. I had no idea there was more to it, un.”

Itachi laughed as someone opened the back door and called that dinner was ready. He then stepped aside to let the stampeding children go by and Deidara slid off his lap. He gave Deidara’s hair a gentle tug and they walked back to the house together, Itachi feeling a little disconcerted to know that Deidara hadn’t really answered his question.

The dinner was split into two sections, one for kids another for adults. Several of the adults were trying to weasel their way into the kids table. For good reason. Sitting with the kids meant you didn’t have to work so hard to be fake, you got to play with your food and listen to the kids talk and play. Sasuke sat happily with his plate there, but Itachi never got to sit at the table. Fugaku had insisted that Itachi sat at the adult table since he was very young, learning to be an adult. Sitting at the kids table was fun, but sitting with the adults was only entertaining if you were five feet, one inch, blond and had the sickest sense of humor in the world.

“So, Dei, you go to school with Itachi?” his great-uncle asked as he regally ate his meal. “Are you in the same year?”

“We met in a joint class project,” Deidara said, setting his glass down. He smiled as if the story was a little embarrassing, Itachi continuing to be shocked at the blonds acting abilities. “I’m studying forensic investigation and photography; we met at a crime scene.” He gave Itachi a sideways smile as several people chuckled.

“That’s an interesting field to study,” someone commented. “You’re an exchange student, correct? What made you want to study so far from home?”

“Oh, Akira, you don’t know where she’s from. There are many foreigners in Japan now,” another chided softly, almost playfully.

Deidara smiled and took a bite of his food, chewing carefully before replying. “Head Mistress Michaels is a famous lawyer from my hometown in Germany, I’ve always wanted to study law under her,” he told the family. Oh, he was loving this, Itachi could see that plain and simple. He’d done a lot of research for this too, Itachi was impressed.

“Well, you seem to be a good match for Itachi, even though you are a foreign,” one of the older women said with a tone that showed she had been harshly judging Deidara all night. Itachi looked down at Deidara, smiling at him. She was right. Deidara was a good match for him, but not for the reasons she’d been looking for. This might just be entertainment for the blond, but it meant a lot to Itachi.

“Thank god! They’re gone!” Sasuke cried, throwing himself down on the sofa a few hours later. “Mom, can it never be at our house again? Please?”

“We’ll see, sweetie,” Mikoto said with a smile, picking up a few glasses to take them in the kitchen. “Deidara, you are an incredibly good actor.”

“Yes, you are,” Itachi murmured from his position on the overstuffed chair, cuddled up with the blond. He rubbed the back of his finger against Deidara’s cheek softly. “I can’t believe you convinced them. You’re amazing.”

“Why, thank you,” Deidara said, hanging his stockinged feet over the side of the chair.

“Where’d you learn all that stuff about Itachi’s school?” Sasuke asked, pulling off the nice button down shirt he’d been wearing to leave himself in the tshirt he wore underneath.

“Oh, you know, research and stuff,” Deidara said, nibbling on a piece of cheese left over from the snack table. “I told you, un. I’m a pro. I used the computer in Daichi’s office and all.”

“You knew about my school before this, though,” Itachi said softly. “You recommended it to me.”

“I told you, I know some things, un,” Deidara insisted, pouting at him. “Why do you always doubt me? Not knowing shit wont do any good for you out on the streets, un.”

Itachi gave a small nod and laid his head down against Deidara’s shoulder. “I really appreciate what you did today,” he murmured. “I don’t like hiding, but… they…”

“Can let the shitheads make stuff hard on your mom,” Deidara told him, swallowing the rest of the cheese whole.

Mikoto came over and knelt in front of their chair, placing a hand on Itachi’s knee and arm. “I wouldn’t have cared,” she informed him. “Whether you are comfortable telling them or not, I support you.”

“Thanks Mom,” Itachi said softly, smiling at her. He had never really thought about hiding necessarily, he never really had much interest in dating people before. His father was the only person he ever felt threatened by, but he really didn’t want to cause problems for his mother. They already believed his family embarrassed them with Fugaku.

“So you don’t like fashionable Lady Dei?” the blond asked, stretching himself into a pose on his lap.

“I prefer rolled out of a garbage bin Deidara,” Itachi joked, poking his ticklish side, to make him jerk out of the pose with a giggle.

“You know what?” Deidara said, sitting up in Itachi’s lap and leaning up to whisper in his ear. “This isn’t the only outfit I have hidden away in my place, un. Wanna go see a fashion show?”

“Uh—”

“What are you whispering about?” Sasuke asked, looking at them suspiciously.

“Sex,” Deidara said before Itachi could say ‘nothing’.

Sasuke visibly cringed and pulled his shirt over his head. “You really should have a code word or something,” Sasuke grumbled. “I don’t want to think about my brother having sex.”

“It’s very natural, Sasuke, you should try it sometime,” Deidara teased, smirking at him. “But I’m claiming Itachi, just so you know, un. You can’t have him. Even though he’s really fucking good at—”

“NO!” Sasuke screeched, covering his ears and making random noises. “I don’t want to hear this!”

Deidara fell back laughing hysterically as Itachi told him, chuckling softly, to leave his brother alone. After helping Mikoto with the dishes and cleaning up, Itachi and Deidara climbed into his car and drove off to Deidara’s apartment for some well needed stress relief and fun.


	22. Chapter 22

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

One of the worst sounds in the universe. The sound that jars you from the peaceful state of slumber to force you out of bed to start that morning routine. To get up, take a shower, make ready for the day. Deidara groaned loudly at the noise, willing it to turn itself off, but the noise only got louder with neglect. It was soon joined by the sound that was meant to be a hiss, but coming from such a tiny body, it didn’t sound very threatening. Milkshake pounced on the alarm clock, also not pleased about being woken up. Deidara sleepily cheered him on until he finally reached out to silence it.

Five minutes wouldn’t hurt much.

“MEW!”

Deidara groaned again and cracked his eyes open to look at the now very much awake and hungry kitten. “Five more minutes,” he told him aloud, but Milkshake sneezed defiantly, climbing over his face to hope off the mattress and began pawing at his empty food dishes. The metal was worse than the alarm.

“Fine, fine,” Deidara groaned, rolling off the bed and shuffled over to feed him. “I’m going to get you a plastic bowl one day,” he threatened, watching him do a few mini pounces at his dish before eating. His own victory food dance.

“Never gets old,” he commented, slumping into the bathroom to take a shower.

It was Friday and he had survived a whole month of school. A whole month of being smart, of doing homework, of ignoring calls from clients, of showing up to school on time and not smoking in the bathrooms instead of going to class. God, he hated being smart. How did people stand it? He had to admit, he was a little proud of himself, but his wallet certainly wasn’t. Most of his money went to Milkshake and gas now. Food and litter were a lot more expensive then he imagined. Over the summer, he’d read a lot of books on cats and cat care, taken Milkshake regularly to the vet like he was supposed to and talked to many cat lovers in his classes. Milkshake was most likely the runt of the litter Itachi had found him in and it wasn’t likely that he was doing to grow to be a very big cat. He needed a lot of extra care (or love as one girl told him), but Deidara didn’t mind doing things for him. Itachi had been right, taking care of his kitten was a good way for him to take his mind off things. To have someone to come home to. To ignore the thing that were dragging him down and making him cold and sweaty, shaking under his blankets at night.

No drugs.

He glared at himself in the mirror as he stepped out of the steaming shower. He looked horrible. Taking a deep inhale, he let it out slowly and opened his medicine cabinet, pulling out make up to hide it. It had been four weeks and five days since he touched anything except cigarettes and it was showing. He hadn’t slept well in days. Having his kitten around was nice because it gave his hands something to do at night when it was hardest to resist, knowing all he needed to do was take a walk a few streets away and he could get something that would make it stop. At least his dear baby didn’t care one bit how he looked.

Coming out to get dressed, Milkshake hopped out of his litter box and ran to Deidara for praise for using it correctly. Maybe he was spoiling him, praising him for everything he did, but Deidara adored him. He had no problems making sacrifices for him. Giving the kitten’s head a good scratch before pulling on his school uniform.

Milkshake was dropped off at Daichi’s. Deidara felt much safer with him there and not at his crap hole of an apartment. He knew the kind of things the kitten brought him when he was there, plus he was so good at escaping out the window, he was worried he’d get lost. Not that the garage was safer, but Deidara felt it was. Daichi brought Suki there all the time, so it must be safe. Daichi’s daughter squealed when she saw Deidara, waving her arms frantically from her playpen when she saw him. Her fat baby fingers reached out to clutch Deidara’s hair. Suki loved colored hair. Daichi was going to be bald soon from all her grabbing.

“Nice to see you too,” Deidara told her, removing his hair from his grasp then pulled Milkshake from his hoodie pocket. “Hey, little dude, you behave, alright?” he said to the kitten. “Don’t get in any trouble and make sure you protect Suki, okay?”

He set the kitten down, giving him a ruffle of his soft fur as he bounded off to sniff around the garage. The first few days Deidara had left him there, the kitten had tried to follow him to school, crying pitifully. Deidara had caved the first two days and took him to school with him, but it hadn’t worked out well and he had to suck it up and leave the crying kitten behind. Daichi assured him later that after about thirty minutes, he was running around exploring, but Deidara still felt bad about leaving him there, even though he had seemed to get used to it, instantly running to search for something to chase. Picking his bag up, Deidara waved to Daichi and hurried off to school.

The first day of school had been a frustrating nightmare. He’d been exhausted because he had stayed up talking to Itachi on the phone, but then couldn’t sleep all night due to shakes. He hadn’t told Itachi about them yet. He didn’t want to until he could proudly state that he was clean. None of his teachers were pleased to have him in their classes, which was the only satisfying thing about that day. Some of the teachers he had had the previous year, some just knew who he was from stories. Their groans when they saw him, or came to his name had made him smirk, but the day had been full of sheets of paper on rules of each class, forms that needed to be signed by a parent or guardian. Why couldn’t there just be one big paper to sign? Daichi was irritated every first day of school when he had to sign all the papers of the people he was listed as an official guardian for.

First period was Health down in the basement of the school with the teacher he had humiliated in his freshmen year during Sex Ed. Needless to say, the teacher was thrilled to see him again. Making his life miserable was reason enough to come to school in the first place. After that was Grammar 12, which he hated. Hated. He liked reading, but reading to write and analyze was terrible and his teacher was shorter than he was, talking in a very high pitched voice that grated his brain. After that was Biology, one of the few morning classes he actually enjoyed. While the information and scientific details bored him to tears, he very much liked the curriculum outline that came with the paper Daichi had to sign for so he could take the lab. Deidara very much liked doing lab work. Then came Calculus and Chemistry, the two of his least favorite classes, but he had wanted to show off to Itachi so he had signed up for them both. Mistake.

Then lunch, but who could really say anything bad about edible, dirt cheap food. After that Deidara’s day was a walk in the park.

His fifth class was German. The school required him to take a foreign language. He chose German to cheat and keep his GPA up in case something went wrong in his other classes. The school didn’t know he spoke it fluently. Then there was Art, which he had every year since he started school and had the same teacher, who just smiled patiently at him when he argued that the explosions around the class room were more artistic than the clay pots they were supposed to be making. Then there was History, which he had to fight to stay awake in, and last of all was Tech Ed, which wasn’t much more different from Art except he got to use power tools and got to break the things he made. Unless it was something useful and cool like a candy dispenser or a toy car. Oh, no. He had broken the toy car he made last year. But it had been fun to drive down three flights of walkway stairs and smash into a brick wall.

Every day his teachers expected to be interrupted, insulted, anything, but Deidara stayed quiet for the most part, unless one of his friends were in class too. What they didn’t know was that Deidara was going to be working hard this year. His goal: to be top of their class. He could never beat Itachi’s record, but he could damn well try. It was just difficult to keep up his reputation and do well in school at the same time. Very difficult. The headache of being teased often won over the headache of extra work. The only fun thing about this was the looks on his teachers’ faces when he turned in his work, when they gave out class ranks. They were shocked.

His new life choices led to another problem of his that accosted him every day at lunch.

“Dei, you got anything today?”

He looked up from his soup at the two people sitting down across from him. “I haven’t got any, un,” he muttered, picking his bowl up again.

“What? Dei, you haven’t had anything since school started!” the boy cried. “You said not to doubt you.”

“I said that last year,” Deidara growled under his breath. “Bug someone else.”

“What’s up with you this year? Your boy toy cash cow got you on a short leash?” the girl cooed at him mockingly. “He ain’t here, Dei.”

“He’s not a cash cow,” Deidara growled, putting his bowl down. 

“You’ve got a sugar daddy, but he doesn’t care what you do, does he?” she snapped. “So why can’t you deliver?”

Deidara glared angrily at her and shoved his tray across the table, ignoring her shrieks as the food spilled on her as he got up and stormed out of the cafeteria. He was supposed to go to class, but he was frustrated and angry. He slipped down a stairwell and sat next to the janitor’s office. His head ached and swam. All he wanted was to be able to relax and think. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a cigarette and lit it – if the janitor was in, he could bribe him; he’d done it before. So many people wanted him in one way or another. He couldn’t sell these stupid teenagers drugs because if he had them on him, he’d use them. People wanted him for drugs, his phone buzzing at night with clients wanting him for pleasure, Daichi wanting him for work and races.

Only one, quiet and patient, wanted him to be happy.

His hand holding the cigarette shook slightly from what he was denying it. Curling up against the side of the stairwell, he ran his fingers through his hair and clutched his aching head.

He really didn’t deserve Itachi. The others were right. Itachi didn’t care what he did, just mutely accepted it with a sense of sadness. But he needed money. He hated money. Even though he didn’t care about money, the world made it impossible to do anything without it. Money for food. Money for housing. Money for Milkshake. Money to visit Itachi. Money for cigarettes. Money for drugs. No drugs. He was doing good on that one. But he was suffering because of it. He had been through withdrawal before, but he had never lasted this long.

He knew this depression were part of withdrawal, but he couldn’t stop the thoughts that plagued him day and night. All his life there had been no rules. He did what he wanted with no care of the consequences. Living in the moment, because that moment was all that matter. Selling himself on the street meant nothing to him. It was just quick and easy money and beneficial in some cases. Clients that came to him bought him presents, they did anything he wanted them to if their buttons were pushing right. He loved watching them squirm under the control he had over them, even if they weren’t aware of it. What was wrong with him? What had Itachi done to him? What was different? His no rules life was suddenly being invaded by a thought. A want of structure. Of rules. How could Itachi ask him to change what made him Deidara, his very personality, just for him?

No.

He crushed the dying cigarette against the wall and threw it across the stairwell. He lit another cigarette.

No that was wrong. Itachi never asked him that. Itachi had never asked if he would change for him. Never indicated that he want Deidara to stop. Itachi would never tell him what to do. Suggesting it was Itachi’s fault was just him making pathetic excuses. Itachi didn’t care what he did, not because he saw him as a piece of meat like these people. He just wanted him to be happy, never pushing his own feelings on him.

The bell rang for classes to resume. He wrapped his arms around his knees to press his eyes into them.

What made Itachi so different from the rest of them? Itachi never asked for favors, never demanded or expected things from him. He just wanted him to be himself and it was throwing Deidara off. He didn’t know what to do with this open freedom Itachi presented. In a way, it was its own form of manipulation. He was just playing into Itachi’s hand and suffering for it, but he didn’t really care. But he liked his freedom. He didn’t want to be held down.

But wasn’t Itachi giving him freedom?

He was holding himself down, wasn’t he?

What was wrong with his thoughts lately?

“Hey, kid.”

He looked up to see the janitor looming over him, looking both concerned and angry. Deidara realized he still had a cigarette in his hand, but he hadn’t been smoking it. Snubbing it out, he put it back in the pack to use later and stood. “Sorry,” he mumbled.

“You alright?” the man asked. “You look a bit sick.”

“Yeah, I’m going to the nurse’s office. Sorry about the cigarette.”

The janitor didn’t stop him, so he went to the nurse’s office and forced himself to throw up so he’d get sent home. Most students had to wait for their parents to arrive to pick them up, but Daichi had talked to the school nurse and principal to allow the younger students who lived in the apartment and garage to walk home themselves. Grabbing his hoodie from his locker, Deidara left, proudly flashing his go-home pass to the officer manning the front door. He went to the store first, spending the last of his cash on food for milkshake, soap and a soda to wash the gross taste of vomit from his mouth.

He wasn’t paying attention to where he was wandering to until he saw a flash of blue hair disappearing underneath the hood of a grey Honda. God, he hated working, but the whole train of thought involving money ran through his head again. Seriously sucks. The tiny, excited mewing alerted Daichi to his presence. Milkshake ran across the concrete floor, nearly tripping over his own feet in his happiness to see Deidara earlier than usual. Scooping him up, Deidara cuddled the ball of energy, rubbing his face against Milkshakes as the kitten purred happily. Daichi stood up and eyed him as he wiped his hands off on a dirty rag.

“School let out early?” he asked, obviously aware that it hadn’t.

“I had stuff on my mind, un,” Deidara told him, setting the kitten down on his shoulder. “I.. want to work more,” he told him, making up his mind.

“You’re dropping out?” there was a warning glint in his dark eyes.

“No, no,” Deidara insisted hurriedly before that wrench got chucked at him. “I’m going to do both.”

A curious frown came over his pierced face; Daichi leaned on the back of the car in thought, processing this new information before speaking. “You need extra money for something?” he asked.

“No.” Just different money.

“What for?”

“Stuff,” he mumbled, swinging his bag a little so it hit his leg.

“What about school work?”

“I’ll do it after school, then work, un.”

“And racing?”

“On weekends only.”

He watched Daichi incline his head in thought again, then turn to go back to the engine he’d been working on. Daichi was going to think about it at least. Deidara recognized that the conversation was over until he was done thinking. Taking his things and Milkshake, who was chirping in his ear at being ignored, into the bunk area and climbed up to his. While Deidara did his homework, Milkshake ate pieces of dried cat food Deidara laid out one by one, talking nonstop in his tiny kitten voice. After finishing his science homeworks, he rolled onto his side and watched the kitten talk, rubbing his soft furry chin, asking him questions as if he understood him.

His cat thought he could talk human.

“Hey, slow down,” he said as Milkshake paused to give a sneeze. “You’re going to suffocate from talking too much, un.”

“Hey, Dei.”

Deidara peeked his head out to look down at Daichi, who took a seat in one of the chairs, so Deidara climbed out and joined him in the one across from him, feeling like he was about to get a talk.

“You look terrible,” Daichi commented, leaning forward with his elbows resting on his knees. “Are you really quitting?”

He gave a one shouldered shrug in response. Saying he was quitting sounded like he had a problem before. He didn’t have a problem.

“Do you owe money to someone?” Daichi asked.

Deidara shook his head. “No.”

Daichi continued to stare at him, while Deidara stared at his knees partially aware that Milkshake was making it known he was put out over being left in the bunk. “Then why do you need more money?” he prompted.

“I don’t need more money,” Deidara insisted, then chewed on his lip, realizing Daichi wasn’t going to say yes until he gave a satisfactory explanation. “I need… different money.”

The mechanic leaned back in his seat, surveying him closely with a hint of surprise. “Really,” he commented. “What brought this on?”

“Nothing,” Deidara grumbled defensively.

“You’re doing it for Itachi, aren’t you?” he replied, smiling a little. “I’m impressed, Dei.”

“It’s not for Itachi,” Deidara muttered. “And it’s nothing to be impressed about, un.”

“Either way, I’m pleased,” Daichi told him. He folded his arms and looked away from Deidara as if he were reading an invisible sign posted on the wall. “I’ll let you work regularly after school when your homework’s done. Weekends, I’ll let you work normal hours, if you want, and I’ll call you to race when I need you.”

“Thanks Daichi.”

“This is a chance. Don’t disappoint me,” Daichi warned, standing up gain. “While you’re here, sweep out the dead mice your monster brought me.”

This was going to suck. He climbed up to retrieve Milkshake before he attempted to leap to freedom and went to find a broom. He remembered years ago when he hadn’t wanted to be lashed down to a strict job, and yet here he was, asking for it. It would be less money coming in, but he hoped that evil nagging thing he realized was a conscience would be appeased and maybe he’d be tired enough to just sleep at night. As he dumped the dead mice into the outdoor garbage bin, Milkshake grumbling in his ear at his ungratefulness for attempting to feed Daichi, he realized it had been Itachi’s incredibly embarrassing statement that started making him feel like this on top of withdrawal.

“‘Not one of your clients,’” he muttered under his breath as he slammed the bin shut. He scoffed and went back inside to offer his services to Daichi annoyed at life as a whole.

It wasn’t as bad as he assumed it would be. Keeping himself to a stricter schedule meant he had time to do his homework if he came straight home from school, then worked until about seven at night unless he had a commission project for painting one of the vehicles. The struggle he had was that the strict schedule now meant he had less time to play which made him grow irritable and miserable, getting into fights with the people around him. When that happened, he ran away and Mikoto would find him curled up on Itachi’s bed, having climbed into the window from the tree outside, despite the fact that Mikoto had given him a key to the house. Mikoto always made him feel better and fed him. He couldn’t even visit Itachi anymore because Daichi would schedule him to work on weekends and he needed the money. When it got even worse, he went to a club and drank his worries away, stumbling home to hide under the covers. He felt like he was disintegrating, but it only lasted another two weeks, but it felt like the longest two weeks of his life. Then the shakes faded away and the depression left and he could think again. October was a much better month than September and he was able to enjoy the fall weather again and the prospect of Halloween parties with everyone.

Well… Almost everyone.

“Really?” Deidara grumbled into his phone, pouting in the back of Daichi’s car.

“I’m sorry, Deidara,” Itachi’s voice told him on the other end. “I thought I could come but I have a lot of extra work to do and midterms coming up.”

“But I haven’t seen you in weeks, un. And you promised.”

“I didn’t promise,” Itachi reminded him. “I said I’d try. I’ll be home for a month and a half for winter break and Christmas.”

“Who cares about that?” Deidara whined. “That’s weeks away.”

“I’m sorry Dei… I’ll make it up to you,” Itachi said softly. “I promise.”

“Oh really?” Deidara scoffed skeptically.

“Yes, I promise,” Itachi insisted. “We’ll go to a resort together. Just the two of us.”

“So you’ve dumped me for the weekend and are now bribing me, un.”

“Shamelessly.”

“Well I guess I can’t actually do anything, huh,” Deidara snapped. “You better seriously make up for this, un.”

“I will, I promise. Have fu—”

Deidara hit the ‘END CALL’ button before he finished, huffing as he stuffed his phone back into his pocket. The downside to the new phone Itachi had given him was that he didn’t have the immense satisfaction of snapping it angrily closed like his older flip phone. This sucked.

“Itachi can’t come?” Daichi questioned as he pulled off the main road.

“No,” Deidara grumbled, folding his arms up tightly and leaned against the door. “He’s got school. As usual.”

“I’m sure he’ll make it up to you,” Rin said, turning to smile back at her. He gave a half smile at her and stared out the window.

Every year they had this party. People from races and clubs and garages would come together and use Halloween as an excuse to throw a huge party. One of the other groups of racers owned a large area of land that was all wood and farmland that they were willing to let them use for the party and he had helped put it all together. A big bonfire, food, bike racing, paint ball, corn field tag, pond swimming, pumpkin battles and fireworks. Not necessarily in that order. News that Deidara had planned a party spread quickly, he wasn’t really surprised that there were three times the number of cars parked in the grass on the property. Many people cheered when the three of them got out of the car, coming to shake Daichi’s hand and clap Deidara on the back. It was one huge party, people dressed in all sorts of clothes made from leather, vinyl, denim, cotton, and polyester playing around him. There were skinny dipping in the pond, bikes racing down the forest paths, chattering under the fire lanterns around the lawn. Still unhappy about Itachi bailing on him, Deidara left Daichi and Rin to join the rest of them, dancing and eating and drinking until he all but forgot Itachi’s absence.

The others didn’t though, and were taking advantage of Deidara’s drunken high of fun. He went swimming and played through the corn field with everyone. He joined the epic pumpkin battle, which was nothing more than an all-out food fight with broken gourds and wrestling matches. People slipped and slid across the slime, throwing it and tackling each other. Clothes were torn but no one cared. Deidara became aware sometime in the night that he was high. He didn’t remember being offered anything or accepting it, but the drug induced high was familiar and welcoming. He was barely aware of his own body by the time the fireworks were set off in the field. He didn’t care what the drug was, he felt so free and the beautiful explosions and blurs of people. Everything was so pretty this way. How could he have gone so long without it? His head felt so wonderfully clear for the first time in weeks. He was aware of hands on him, but for all he knew, they belonged to Itachi, who had come anyway to surprise him. He was dancing and having fun, he didn’t care whose hands were on him.

His body stopped moving and he was aware of the grass under his cheek and the heat of the bonfire in front of him. There were so many colors in the fire, why did people always color fire as red when it was so much more than that? The flames danced like a living thing, greedy with hunger. It wanted to eat everything on its course to the sky, but that greed was what stopped it from achieving its goal. Once everything was burned, there was nothing left to eat. Once there was nothing left, it would die too. So beautiful. He wanted to crawl into the fire and rise up like a phoenix and fly away.

The drugs in his system told him how possible this was. He only had to take a few crawling steps forward and he would be in the flames and fly away. Fly to the stars. How wonderful would that be…

A phoenix though… they die and come back. A never ending cycle of death and birth. Endless. Eternal. What was special and beautiful about that? It was hideous and predictable. Deidara glared at the flames for their foolishness and betrayal. They wouldn’t trick him again.

He was woken in the morning by a wave of icy water on his face. He started and spluttered, flailing upright as the soft skin of strangers fell away from him. He didn’t remember crawling into the hay barn, but he sat wedged between the piles of barrels, surrounded by naked bodies. He pushed his now wet hair from his face, feeling it tangled with straw and sat Daichi looming over him, bucket in hand.

“Where the hell have you been?” Daichi glared. Deidara’s throat tightened a little at the look on Daichi’s face, furious and disappointed. “We’ve been looking for you for hours. Get up.”

Swallowing, Deidara crawled out of the mound of hay and people and grabbed his clothes dropped carelessly on the ground and pulled them back on. His body ached, hinting at the events of last night. The activities in the hay. The phone Itachi gave him thumped happily against his hip from where it had been in his pocket as he pulled his jacket on. Shame started to burn in him. A new feeling. “I’m sorry, Daichi, I—” he began, uncertain of what to say, but Daichi cut him off, wheeling around to bear down on him.

“I gave you a chance,” he said in a quiet, angry voice. “Go get in my car. We’re going home.”

“Daichi, I’m sorry, I wasn’t—”

“It’s a good thing Itachi wasn’t here, wasn’t it?” Daichi murmured cruelly, making him freeze in a cringe. Daichi’s strong hands gripped the back of his jacket, shoving him towards the sunlight.


	23. Chapter 23

When he was young, he remembered playing make believe with the children in his neighborhood. One day, he stood back and realized how foolish their games were. A cardboard box and trashcan couldn’t take them to the moon. It was impossible to dig to the center of the Earth. His books proved that to him and he stopped playing make believe. The childish nature of his mind stepped into the thirsty realm of knowledge of a boy who saw the world with numbers and letters instead of colors. He forgot about flying to the moon in a trashcan, or creating a hover board out of skates until he had been forced to go to a birthday party that took place at a Go-Kart track.

His first time driving… he had finally flown to the moon.

The numbers and letters did not dissolve, but he could reason with them. He loved driving, loved cars. The moment he had gone home from that party, he had dived headfirst into his books to learn how they worked, learn what made them go. What had they been missing when they had tried to make their own machines as children? He discovered them and how they worked and how they were put together. He saw racers flying along and longed to be one of them. He worked hard doing chores for his parents to make money on his own. When he was sixteen he bought his first car along with his license. It wasn’t perfect, but he recognized its quality and brought it home, saving his allowance to buy parts to fix the car to his liking.

It was that car he flew in now, racing away from life. Land and cities flew by him as he drifted violently into a turn. He couldn’t go far because he was leashed to the building he’d left behind, but he needed time away to think. He had done nothing but observe the thoughts of scholars and doctors for weeks in those buildings and now he couldn’t escape his own thoughts. He couldn’t properly think in that place, so he had grabbed his wallet and keys, stuffing them in his pocket with his phone – turned off, and left, leaving the building in the dust from the tires of his Mazda.

What had he expected?

Itachi jerked the emergency break and drifted to a half turned stop on the side of the road. He was being stupid. Why should he be so angry and hurt that his white knuckled hands on the steering wheel shook?

He had expected Deidara to call him in the afternoon after waking up, complaining of a hangover and telling him about Milkshake or some crazy concoction he had thought up before the blond launched into a verbal abuse of him being unable to visit him that weekend and a description of the party he had missed. Instead, he received a call around nine in the morning, just after he was leaving the gym. Instead of that bubbly excited voice he loved to hear, it was quiet, hesitant and unsure. Deidara told him what happened the night before. How he had taken drugs, when he’d been trying so hard to quit, how he had crawled willingly into the arms of strangers in a barn. He had never heard Deidara sound so uncomfortable. Daichi had forced him to call, he was sure. Deidara was hard to predict, but Itachi knew that the blond would eventually tell him when pretending nothing happened got too much for him to hold in. Daichi would have wanted Itachi to be informed right away; punishment of some sort. Deidara didn’t say, but Daichi was probably furious with the blond. Deidara had even apologized to him for falling, for taking the drugs and for cheating. Despite the uncomfortable twist in his stomach, Itachi told him everything was fine. He understood. He forgave him.

Did he though?

Did he understand?

Did he forgive him?

Yes, he did. He shook his head as if to ward off the stupid questions. Of course he did. Deidara’s life was like that. Literally living the ‘sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll’ that teenagers with their noses buried in music magazines and underground music desired, wishing for the life of the misunderstood artists that seemed so free in their lives. Even Deidara wouldn’t downplay the excitement in his life when asked. As a whole it was hard and miserable, but it had a freedom that few living it could see. He would never ask Deidara to change that life for him. He liked Deidara for who he was, not what he could be under all that rough, mischievous, devilish personality. When he had left for school, he had reminded himself that Deidara wasn’t a normal person and he didn’t expect Deidara to even try to act like a normal partner.

Yet he had been trying.

Itachi crossed his arms over the steering wheel and pressed his eyes against the curve of his arm. He had been trying to quit and he had had no idea. Deidara could have been fucking his own brother for all he knew along with his customers, using the money for his drugs, his drinks, his life. He had never known that he had been trying to quit drugs or wasn’t entertaining clients as much. How could he have been so unobservant? He didn’t get to see Deidara in person as much anymore because the blond had started school and they were both busy, but now that he thought on it, Deidara had looked exhausted the last time he saw him. He’d been hiding dark circles under his eyes form lack of sleep with makeup. He had thought he was just tired. The last time he had visited for a short weekend, the blond had seemed thinner in his arms. He’d been smoking more, eating more around him. He had thought the blond was just going through a rough patch. How had he not noticed that something was so different? Without his asking, he was trying to change his lifestyle to be better, but it had been affecting his health.

Quitting was hard, he knew this. He had seen the blond go through short term withdrawals during his stay and knew when he when he had started again because the affects ceased. It was hard, and he was doing it on his own. But the news of his failure, the acts during the party made Itachi’s stomach churn and nausea wash over him and his chest tighten painfully. Betrayal. But also abandonment on his part. If he had been there, those people wouldn’t have put their hands on him. If he had been there, Deidara wouldn’t have taken drugs after being clean for weeks and he wouldn’t have rolled in the hay with strangers. If he had been there, he, Itachi, wouldn’t be feeling this way.

It’s done.

It’s done.

It’s done, it’s in the past, you can’t change it.

Getting out of his car, he wandered across the gravel of the side of the road to the old rails overgrown with vegetation and started walking down them. He felt selfish to let his own feelings get hurt when Deidara obviously felt guilty and uncomfortable with himself for what he had allowed done to him. Deidara was an addict, he couldn’t help that he had fallen, it was hard to succeed on your own when you were trying to quit. He couldn’t get Deidara’s voice out his head. He had never heard the blond sound scared before. Actually afraid. Shaky, nervous and unsure. It was like a child worried that his parents would tell him they didn’t want him anymore for breaking a window because he was playing ball in the house like he knew he wasn’t supposed to. His chest tightened. Deidara had heard from his parents that they didn’t want him anymore. Now he was scared Itachi was going to tell him the same thing. Relief had flooded Deidara’s voice when Itachi said he had forgiven him.

Did he really though?

His footsteps paused, thinking on that. Did he really forgive him? Was he angry with him? So angry he wouldn’t honestly forgive him and he would bring it up on some later date to throw back at Deidara’s face? No… That was selfish and immature. Deidara had made a mistake. He apologized, sought forgiveness. Of course he gave it to him. He didn’t want to hurt Deidara. If he had known he was trying to quit, he would have helped him. He would never hurt Deidara. He cared for him more than he did his own car. He cared for him like he cared for his mother and brother. Perhaps he loved him, but how could he be sure? Maybe he was just foolish. Deidara could walk all over him and he felt he would let him. And probably enjoy it too.

Yes. Of course he forgave him. Completely. A weight lifted off his shoulders. When he saw Deidara in person again, he would hug him tight and tell him how much he cared for him. He never told him that, had he? He smiled to himself as he thought of the expression Deidara would have: flustered and embarrassed, trying to push it off that he didn’t care that he told him, blue eyes wide in shock, but trying to not look happy. He hoped that would be his reaction.

He had spent all afternoon trying to regain his study mind to put off thinking about this, it was turning dark now, the sun casting shadows that would send anyone with too big of an imagination into a full panic. Itachi had no fear of his mind, he’d been standing on the tracks long enough to recognize the shadows for what they were. A bush instead of the creeping monster it appeared to be. He heard the trees rustling in the wind and not someone unknown stalking closer. Right now, under the moon, looking at the glittering stars, Itachi exhaled and felt the weight lift from his shoulders. He stared at the stars and smiled. The last time he had seen them this clearly, they had been reflecting in Deidara’s eyes on the mountain.

He walked the tracks with a careful, casual step, looking at his dark shadow from the pale light of the half moon. The small pebbles between the old, but solid planks of wood crunched under his feed. Deidara was precious to him. Like his mother and brother. If he apologized, he would forgive him.

He had told Deidara he had an assignment to do and would call him back later, but that had been hours ago. He looked down at his phone and sighed. He didn’t know what to say to him. Telling him he’d call back later was his excuse to let himself think for a little while, but then he never called back. He would later, after he put something in his stomach.

As he climbed into his car, he looked around. This would be a good place to kill someone, he mused as he put his keys in and turn his car on. His headlights came on and reflected something shiny in the bush. He frowned, squinting, staring at the shining thing. What was that? It disappeared and came back as the bushes and trees moved in the light breeze.

What is that?

Getting out of his car, he tucked his keys back into his pocket and started towards the object. Was the night playing tricks on him now? He was like a moth drawn to its demise by the hypnotic glow of a light bulb? He wasn’t a moth though. Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought him back. He shook himself out of his curious nervousness and pulled the bushes away.

His eyes widened.

No way.

Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he turned it on, waiting impatiently for the screen to turn on and brushed aside the notifications that popped up without reading them and found Kisame in his contact list and dialed. “Hey, Kisame,” he said when his roommate answered. “Can you bring your truck to me? I need something towed.”

It was only about fifteen minutes before Kisame pulled up to the tracks after following his directions. He called to Kisame excitedly so he could find him, seeing him pause and give him a curious look before approaching. “What?” he asked when he reached him. 

“Nothing,” Kisame said, with a half grin. “I just never hear you sound so cheerful unless you’re talking to your crazy boyfriend.”

“I sound the same as usual,” Itachi said, frowning a little.

“Nah, you’re usually pretty stoic,” Kisame told him, grinning fully now. “Deidara’s the loud eccentric one that turns you up a notch. So what’d you call me out here for? Looks like a good place to kill someone. Am I towing a body?”

Itachi smirked a little. He had thought the same thing. “Not a human body,” he said, motioning for him to come over to the tracks. “Come see.” He pulled the bush away and showed him the body in the brush.

It was a car. A sports car to be exact. It didn’t look more than a few years old. The windows were busted and the inside was full of leaves, acorns and died rain water. The tires looked ruined and the front end was still partially crushed against the tree. It was rusty and looked a mess, but closer investigation showed him the symbol made by the three diamonds.

“Mitsubishi,” Kisame commented with a slight nod of approval.

“It’s an Evo,” Itachi told him, using his phone’s flashlight to examine the car closer.

“Really? I’m better with trucks,” Kisame commented.

“It’s a nice model,” Itachi told him, climbing to the back of the car.

“Shit. Nice.” Itachi looked up to see Kisame giving the car a halfhearted gesture, “dude this thing’s ready for the junkyard.”

He ran his fingers over the spoiler. “I think it’s okay,” he told him. “Just needs work. I want it.”

Kisame was giving him a strange look, his expression almost as readable as Deidara’s could be. He gave him a slight smile, which made Kisame laugh. “You look so weird smiling like that,” Kisame told him. “Like that damn Mona Lisa painting, ha. Hang on, let me go get the cables.”

It took them quite some time to get the car back to the school. They had to go slow so they didn’t damage the wheels or bottom of the car which were intact, but had undetermined damage. Itachi trailed behind him in his Mazda, wondering if he could actually get this car to run again. He had been working with Daichi a lot, but knew he was nowhere near the mechanic’s level of skill. He was sure he could, at least, be able to tell whether or not the car would run again and what parts he would need for it. The downside was that he didn’t really have money for parts, but perhaps Daichi could be persuaded to give him the parts if he promised him the car for the races. They got the car into the mechanics garage in a building standing separate from the main campus. Itachi used his school ID to swipe them in and they set it in one of the empty student work stations and turned the light on to examine the car. Kisame stayed to help for a little while, but finally told his roommate that he was declaring the car beyond help and went back to the dorm, probably to go to sleep.

After a few hours of patient work, Itachi finally stepped back and pulled out his phone and dialed.

“Wrong number,” the voice on the other end said. “‘Deidara’ comes after ‘Daichi’.”

“I was going to leave a message,” Itachi said into the phone, ignoring the sarcasm of the mechanic. It was very late, he hadn’t wanted to wake the Mura’s, but apparently Daichi was still awake.

“Don’t bother, I never check them,” Daichi told him. “What’s up?”

“I was wondering if you could order a few parts for me,” Itachi said, then started reading the list he had made on a piece of scrap paper. “The only thing is, I don’t have the money for it. I don’t know if you’d be willing to do it on faith or…”

Daichi made a thinking noise then seemed to shift. “What are you working on?” he asked. “Those pieces wont fit in your Mazda. They’re for a car like—”

“An Evo?” Itachi’s mouth curved upwards into a slight grin.

The long pause on the other end made him give the car a real grin. He could see the amused smirk on Daichi’s face as he spoke. “What are you hiding up there, Uchiha? Something for me?”

Itachi sat down on the bench, looking over the pale paint and rusted hood of his new car. “I’m your tool, aren’t I?” he said, looking over his list.

“No, you’re not,” Daichi chuckled. “What’d you find?”

“Someone crashed it and left it to rust,” Itachi told him, twirling his pen between his fingers. “It’s pretty banged up, but seems like the axel and everything is alright. Just needs a bit of everything.”

“Evo?”

“Eight.”

“Damn,” he heard him laugh softly on the other end. “You’re always picking up strays to take care of, huh? Yeah, I’ll get your parts, man. You want me to send them to the school or you wanna pick them up here?”

“Send the engine parts to me, I want to make sure I can get it started before doing anything else,” Itachi told him, rising and pacing around his new possession.

“You’ll get it as soon as possible,” Daichi assured him. “Let me know if you need anything else.”

“Thanks.”

“Speaking of strays,” Daichi mused, feigning a casual tone badly. “Did Deidara call you?”

Itachi’s jaw clenched, his grin dropping. “Yes, he did,” he told him. “You didn’t have to make him call. He would have told me on his own.”

“Not the point,” Daichi said firmly. “I’ll let you know the date the items should be shipped.”

“Thanks,” Itachi told him and hung up, dropping his phone into his pocket and continued to pace in front of the car. It really was in good shape, except for a bit of surface damage. The windows were broken and there were plants growing in the engine. He knew it looked horrible, but he could see potential in it. He could work with this. Daichi had taught him a lot, far more than he could pick up from a book. After everything was fixed, Deidara could paint it for him. That would be an amusing argument. Deidara would want it to be as bright as possible with designs and shapes all over it. Something that big would need attention. Itachi, though, would want it plain, black. A car like this didn’t need fancy colors to get people’s attention. He could practically hear the blond’s voice exclaiming how boring that would be.

Deidara…

The smile he had at the thought of the blond’s reactions dropped from his face. He pulled his phone out and looked at it. He had five missed calls. Two texts. One voicemail that said nothing. Pressing the button on his phone, he held the receiver to his ear to listen to it again. The silent recorded message was not entirely silent. There were no words, but he could hear Deidara’s soft breathing and the sounds of passing cars. Deidara was sitting out on the fire escape. The rustling and crackling of stiff paper and plastic. The familiar sound of a lighter and the flare of the tip of a cigarette. He was almost out by the sounds of the extra crackling of packages. It was without words because Deidara couldn’t think of anything to say to him. His text that had come before the voice mail read ‘r u mad’ and then another ten minutes after the voice mail that said ‘im sorry’.

Closing his phone, Itachi rubbed his face roughly with his hands, pressing against his eyes to watch the white pressure glows on the back of his eye lids. He should call him. Assure him that he truly wasn’t angry at him. But he didn’t know what to say. The easiest thing and cowardly to do would be to just pretend that it never happened. Just crawl back into that bed with the lumpy uncomfortable mattress and wrap his arms around the petite, but strong body and keep him safe from all the problems and pain of Deidara’s world. They would never have to talk about what happened ever, he would just hold him, and kiss him and tell him how much he  
how much  
he…  
loved him.

He pulled himself up short. That was a bit too big to think about right now and it was too late to try. He didn’t know what to say to Deidara. He forgave him, but he didn’t know how to convey this in a way Deidara would believe, or in a way that would relieve any awkwardness between them. With a sigh, he tucked his phone in his pocket and turned the lights off in the station to return his Mazda to the parking structure and his own room, showering the grime off himself and crawling into his bed. He would think of what to say to Deidara tomorrow. As he closed his eyes, setting his phone on its charger, he groaned a little. He hadn’t gotten any of the work done that he had to do. The whole reason he hadn’t gone home this weekend and he hadn’t done any of it.

The next morning, Itachi went through his normal morning routine, stopping at the garage on his way to look at the car again, but the professor overseeing the building and students was there and he spoke to him instead. He was surprised to see him there on a Sunday, but the man said he was working on his own project and told Itachi it was fine to keep the car in the shop, but on Monday he would have to get permission from the headmistress to use the space and then officially rent it out. Itachi thanked him and hurried back to his dorm, eyeing his watch. It was still too early to call Deidara, he decided, and began working on what had been Saturdays work. Engrossed in his work, he didn’t realize how late it had gotten until Kisame came in and asked if he’d eaten at all, and he begrudgingly left with his roommate to get food.

Monday morning, he knocked on the Headmistress’s office door. She told him to enter, smiling at him as he bowed to her. “Good morning, Mr. Uchiha,” she greeted, taking her classes off and folding her hands together over her desk after motioning for him to take a seat. “What can I do for you?”

She was a foreigner, but Itachi wasn’t sure where from. Her wavy blond hair was pinned tightly into a bun at the back of her head, her blue eyes watching him with intense focus. Itachi explained to her about the car he had found, how he wanted to fix it up in his spare time. “The professor said I needed your permission to keep the car there and that I need to officially rent the space out,” he finished.

“I didn’t know you were interested in cars,” she commented with a smile. “You have my permission to use the garage. To rent the space, you need to fill out a form in the finance building; I believe you have the option of billing your student account, or paying up front.” 

Itachi nodded and made a note on his phone to do it during his lunch break. She asked him a few more questions about the car, though she obviously didn’t know much about cars, she listened intently and asked intelligent questions. She seemed familiar to Itachi, but he could place where he’d seen her before. She seemed a very proper woman with her clothes neatly pressed and her hands perfectly manicured. Everything about her shouted money, much like many of the women in his own family. He wondered what made her come here to teach and wondered if the rumor that she was married to one of the other professors here was true. She wore a ring on her finger at least. He also knew she had a daughter, but Itachi couldn’t see the child’s face in the photographs on the table that faced towards the desk’s occupant. Her Japanese was perfect as well, so he couldn’t guess where she was from. 

Kisame met him on his way towards the main school and forced him to join him for breakfast. His roommate had a huge pile of eggs, bacon and waffles, even a bit of sausage and a muffin. Itachi chose just rice and miso soup. He did enjoy his roommate. Kisame knew how to let him be and have his peace, but made sure he remembered important things like food. Not that he would openly admit it, but Itachi did enjoy spending time with Kisame so long as the other wasn’t trying to get him to attend a party. Itachi learned while they ate that Kisame worked on trucks with his father sometimes, and, though he knew nothing of cars, was curious to learn about what Itachi knew.

Itachi explained as they ate then walked towards class what he intended to do with the parts he ordered. He needed to take the whole car apart, sand down the frame, put new pieces on and rebuild the engine. Out of time where they parted, Itachi invited him to come to the garages after classes and he’d show him. When classes were over, the two of them met and continued talking about the engines, Itachi showing him the list of parts he’d started off with and together they unpacked the damaged car. As much as he wanted to work on it a lot, he had to wait for the parts to arrive, and then his professors began giving more homework to be completed. His classes were becoming heavy with discussion and debates, testing acquired knowledge and how well they could apply them. He barely had time to complete everything and ended up cutting down his gym time by ten minutes to be able to fit in a few extra minutes of time. 

The next four and a half weeks were spent in constant studying and test taking. The little down time he had was spent in the garage working on his new car. Kisame helped at times, but his roommate was also incredibly busy with school work and couldn’t do much. Itachi loved working on the car. When his school workload became impossibly heavy, he contemplated dropping out to go back to the city and work for Daichi instead. That was a really bad idea and he pushed it out of his mind as soon as it came up. Perhaps one day he could do both. He missed racing and working on cars with the others. With all the work he had, he forgot about the things he had wanted to do between finding the car and finals ending. When he turned in his final assignment, it was with great relief and he felt like throwing all the books he had used out his window. Or possibly burning them.

He did neither. But it had been an incredibly difficult semester.

When the city’s skyline came into view he felt his heart beat in nostalgic excitement. He hadn’t been able to come home in so long. He had weeks to spend time with his family now. As he came to a stop at a light he drummed his fingers on the wheel. Who should he see first? Daichi? He could show him the pictures of the work he’d been doing on the new car. Sasuke? Deidara? Sasuke and Deidara would still be in school. His mother? Why couldn’t they all be in the same place at the same time? He wondered briefly if someone would be upset if he didn’t see them first.

…Maybe he should see his mother first.

“Oh sweetheart!”

Maybe he should have seen someone else first.

“Hi, mom,” he groaned as she pulled him into a bone crushing hug after she’d opened the door and spotted him. He hugged her back when he was able to free his arms a bit. He did miss her a lot. Phone calls weren’t as rewarding as face to face conversations.

“I’m so happy to see you, Itachi,” she crooned, pulling him into the house and predictably instructed to sit in his chair at the kitchen island. He sat patiently while she began complaining about how he looked underfed and began making him a plate of chicken salad sandwiches for him to eat. She asked him about school and his finals and the classes he was planning on taking next semester despite the fact that Itachi had called her every week like she had requested. He had eaten before he left school, but he would never turn down his mother’s cooking and ate two sandwiches.

“I’m glad you and Kisame get along so well,” Mikoto told him, watching him eat. “My first college roommate and I didn’t get along very well and I ended up requesting my own room after the first semester. A bit lonely, but less stressful. Sasuke is secretly dying to see you. He pretends he doesn’t care, but he’s been marking the days off until you come home on his calendar. Don’t tell him I know, he thinks he’s being sneaky about it.”

Itachi laughed softly and glanced at the clock. Sasuke would be getting out of school soon. He couldn’t wait to see his brother as well. Maybe he could go pick him up. Deidara would be there, too.

Itachi dropped his napkin in horror.

“Deidara,” he nearly choked out.

“Have he come to see you recently?” Mikoto asked, taking his empty plate from him. “He hasn’t come to visit in a really long time. I’ve been worried about him, but he won’t answer his phone.”

“No…I… I haven’t had a chance to call him,” Itachi stammered, feeling like he was in a daze as he swallowed thickly. He had forgotten to call Deidara.

He looked up and saw Mikoto staring at him. “Did something happen between you two?” she asked in a quiet voice.

“No…” he said, swallowing again and resisting the urge to bite his lip guiltily. “Why?”

His mother placed the plate into the sink and swept up a few crumbs before answering. “Sasuke says that Deidara hasn’t looked very well at school,” she told him. “He said the teachers have tried to send him home but he stays in class.”

“He’s sick?” Itachi asked, sliding off his stool onto the solid tile floor.

“I don’t know, dear,” she said. “I haven’t seen him in over a month… not since October. We’ve tried to invite him over, but he won’t answer his phone, or he tells Sasuke he’s busy.” She looked at him ready to bolt out the door and opened the fridge again and took out a few containers to open and pack little bits of this and that into an empty container she pulled from the cabinet. “Why don’t you take this to him,” she said after packing it tight and closing the lid.

“Yeah, yeah… I will…” Itachi took it from her and bolted out the door, into the car and onto the road as fast as he could, feeling panicked as though he couldn’t breathe.

Deidara.

He had forgotten to call Deidara.

He had been so busy with school and the car that he had forgotten to call Deidara back. He had never thought of what to say to him and kept putting it off. Then school had gotten busy, then he spent time with his car. He kept telling himself he’d do it later because of this or that. He hadn’t eaten yet, he’d do it later. He had a test tomorrow, he’d do it later. It had been a rough day at school and he wanted to relax, so he’d do it later. And later became more than a month. All that time. Deidara had been waiting to hear back from him, some news from him, some idea that he hadn’t lied when he said he had forgiven him and was actually mad. His chest tightened. How could he do something like that? It wasn’t like him. It was cruel and not like him. The familiar parking lot came into view much faster than it should have. He was speeding, but didn’t care. He parked as quickly as he could and ran inside, suddenly unsure of where to go.

School was letting out in a few minutes. What was Deidara’s last class? Why couldn’t he remembered? The blond had told him about his classes. He began moving down the hallways, a sense of franticness welling up inside him at the horror of what he’d done. What had Deidara said about his classes? The best were last. The best were last… Itachi turned down another hallway, not sure of where he should go when the last bell rang, signaling the end of the school day. The hallways filled quickly with students running to the buses or their lockers. Where was Deidara? Where was his boyfriend? His eyes caught a girl carrying a creation made of wood down the halls to show her friends. Something she made in Tech Ed.

Tech Ed.

Turning on his heel, he hurried down the hallway to the technology wing, staring over the heads of the students. Black hair, brown hair, red hair, and dry dyed blond passed him, but then he finally saw the natural golden blond show through the ocean and Itachi lurched forward, pushing people out of his way, ignoring the protests.

“Deidara!”

Tired looking blue eyes looked up when he heard his name, widening in shock as Itachi’s black suede sleeves wrapped around him, crushing him tight and close. Itachi pulled them away from the mass of students out the door and into the cool December air. He pressed the blond against the brick wall of the building away from the trampling feet, hiding them in the shrubbery. His nose buried in the curve of the pale skin of his neck, blinded by hair in his eyes. Deidara felt tiny in his arms. Thinner, more fragile than the last time he had seen him. He had lost weight. His shoulders were small and his waist so thin. His hair wasn’t as shiny and clean as it had been the last time he had seen him.

“Ita—”

“Shh,” he interrupted softly, hugging him tighter. “I’m so sorry, Deidara. I’m so sorry I didn’t call you back. I got so busy and I just… I’m so sorry.”

Deidara’s hand slid around his sides and held him uncertainly. He could feel them shaking a little. Deidara had shushed like he wanted, but now he wasn’t sure if that was best. He wanted him to talk, to bubble over with words that only half made sense because his mouth couldn’t quite catch up with his brain, to be happy. Instead, he was silent, his arms slowly getting tighter around him. It was the same familiar embrace, but it felt so wrong. Deidara wasn’t a nervous person. He felt so tired and small.

When he finally pulled away so he could look at him, the school around them was empty. He brushed Deidara’s hair off his face and smiled at him. Deidara only returned it halfheartedly, dropping his hands from his sides and staring at the space between them. “I’m sorry, Itachi,” he croaked out as though he hadn’t spoken at all that day. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want that to happen, I didn’t want to do that to you, I just…messed up.”

“It’s alright,” Itachi assured him. “I already forgave you. I meant it.” He kissed his forehead softly and together they walked back into the school so Deidara could get his things from his locker, hands clasped. He couldn’t remember holding Deidara’s hand before and decided he liked it. They walked back to Itachi’s car, still holding hands, and climbed in. Itachi paused in the motion of reaching for the ignition and turned to Deidara, sliding his chair back and pulling the blond over onto his lap before he could buckle his seatbelt. Wrapping his arms around him, he squeezed him tight and buried his face in his shoulder.

“I thought you were mad at me, un,” Deidara mumbled under his breath after a long silence. “You didn’t call me back…”

“I could never be mad at you,” Itachi told him. It was true. How could he be mad? It wasn’t Deidara’s fault that he was away so much. It certainly wasn’t Deidara’s fault that the people around him were horrible amoral people. “What’s wrong? You don’t look so good…”

“I’m fine,” un,” Deidara assured him, nestling himself against him, head resting on his shoulder.

“No, you’re not. You look like you haven’t eaten in days. Haven’t slept in days…” he opened his mouth to continue, but just shook his head. “What happened?”

The blond tapped his foot lightly against the console in a familiar gesture of agitated nervousness. “I’m just low on funds right now, un,” he said.

Itachi frowned, wondering about that. Deidara never really had much money, but he did at least have the ability to ensure he could scrape by. It didn’t really seem like he was scraping by. “Mom made this for you,” he said, reaching back to grab the container and hand it to him. He watched Deidara open it, taking out the fork Mikoto had included and began picking at it before eating it hungrily. “I thought you were working for Daichi more,” he commented, twisting a lock of Deidara’s hair around his finger.

Deidara scoffed quietly around his mouthful of rice. “Daichi isn’t too happy with me, un,” he told him, swallowing then taking another bite. “Doesn’t let me work as much.”

Itachi frowned again, pursing his lips together. “You quit drugs,” he said, patting Deidara’s knee lightly.

“I tried,” Deidara grumbled. “Trying again.”

“That’s good though, I’m impressed,” Itachi said, smiling at him. He didn’t like this glum Deidara. He wanted him happy and bursting with his usual energy.

“Yeah well,” Deidara muttered, as he finished off the remainder of the chicken in the bento. “Withdrawal sucks a lot and it’s pretty shitty. I wanted to surprise you when you came back, but I have to go through it all over again, un. It sucked more the second time.”

“No one he—”

“We help ourselves, Itachi,” the blond interrupted him with a familiar tone he’d given him when they first met a year ago, closing the container lid now that it was empty.

“My mom would have helped,” Itachi reminded him.

“Felt wrong to go,” he told him, folding his arms and leaning back against him. “I’ll be fine.”

“I don’t like that you’ve suffered,” Itachi murmured, pressing his cheek against the blond’s forehead as he hugged him tighter. 

“You don’t have to make it sound so dramatic, un,” the blond mumbled.

“Let’s go home. My place, your place or Daichi’s?”

“Daichi’s,” Deidara said, climbing back over to the passenger seat, knees drawn up to his chest. “I have to get Milkshake.”

Several people looked up when the two of them entered the garage, greeting Itachi as he walked in. Daichi cleaned his hands of the engine grime that never quite came clean until the end of the day with a good scrubbing. Itachi shook his hand anyway. Everything looked nearly the same, a few new faces looked down at them curiously from under cars and from the second floor. Itachi regarded them all silently as Deidara gave him a nudge.

“I’m going to shower, un,” he told him, turning and going through the door to the bunk area, his cat bounding after him.

Itachi watched them go, then turned to face Daichi, feeling his temper rising. “Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked.

“Tell you what?” the mechanic questioned with an air of innocence.

“You know perfectly well what,” Itachi snapped.

Daichi’s eyes traveled passed him to the door Deidara had closed and turned to go back to the Honda he’d been working on. A bubble of anger came rushing up Itachi’s throat. Why had no one told him? Why had no one told him that Deidara had gotten this bad? Why had no one helped him? Why had Daichi done nothing? Again? Deidara looked sick and miserable. Exhausted. He was going through withdrawal, but no one offered to help him. He had seen the blond go through withdrawals before, but never from quitting. He imagined they were twice as bad and knew that without help, quitting would be incredibly difficult. And here was someone who knew him, practically raised him, and had done absolutely nothing. Just like he had done nothing when the blond had come home and passed out on the cold floor in pain. Where was his justification? 

The respect he had for the mechanic suddenly didn’t matter. Their friendship didn’t matter. The faces staring down at him didn’t matter. Itachi was angrier than he ever remembered being. His anger exploded out, striking the back of Daichi’s head as he walked away with a blow that made his knuckles sting. He had never struck someone in anger before. Itachi was always worried of ending up like his father and usually tried to suppress that type of anger. Actions derived from anger are irrational, but even part of his mind flashed in horror at what he had done, another felt completely rationalized. Daichi deserved it and was long overdue for someone to stand up against him.

A collection of gasped sucked the air out of the room as Daichi stumbled, whirling around to face him with an expression mixed with pain and shock. No one fought with Daichi. The demeanor the mechanic carried was always like a harbor. The water was calm on the surface, but a dangerous current raged underneath. There was something about the blue haired man that warned others that he was a force to be feared and respected. Itachi had felt it as well, but never witnessed that hidden rage Deidara had warned him about till now. Coal dark eyes turned to fixate on him. Angry eyes, ready to kill you rather than reason with you. He hadn’t seen eyes like that in a long time, but Itachi hadn’t backed down from his father then and he didn’t back down from Daichi now.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Itachi demanded, standing his ground as Daichi stood up straight again.

“It’s none of your business how I conduct my business,” Daichi growled threateningly.

“He is wasting away,” Itachi snapped, jabbing his finger back at the door. “He looks awful and you’ve don’t absolutely nothing to help him!”

“I gave him a chance,” Daichi snapped, bearing down on him.

“He’s a teenager!” Itachi cried. “He’s a teenager going through withdrawal and you made him do it all on his own! And then you punish him for messing up?”

“He is old enough to—”

“Did you go after anyone else?” Itachi snapped back.

“What?” Daichi glared at him, looking ready to hit him.

“Did you do anything about the people who were there that night who took advantage of him?” Itachi demanded. “You’re punishing him for messing up, but you don’t actually care what happened. You gave him a chance, but you didn’t do anything to help him with that chance.”

“That isn’t how it works around here, Uchiha,” Daichi glowered, taking a menacing step forward.

Despite his anger, he didn’t want to fight Daichi. He knew he wouldn’t win, and the consequences may be worse. Instead, he pulled out the nastiest comment he could think of that would make Daichi pause enough that he could storm away and possibly make the hardheaded mechanic think. “Deidara’s been with you since he was a kid. You practically raised him. How do you expect to raise your daughter when you can’t – won’t even take care of him?” he threw at him. It had the desired effect. Daichi stopped short and stared at him, but Itachi took a step back and stormed away to the door Deidara had disappeared through earlier. Coward, he told himself, but he really didn’t want to fight Daichi.

As with the rest of the garage, the bunk room hadn’t changed much. A few bunks that had been vacant before now had a lived in look to them. The bunk that had been his for the three months he stayed here was still empty, but he suspected the bunks on the bottom were for special use. He could hear water running in the bathroom off to the side. He debated going in. Any other time he would have, but the time spent apart made him think that it might be too soon. Still, he smiled a little. Deidara was freshening up for him. As though Itachi really cared. Deidara was so unbelievably cute without meaning to be sometimes.

Going to the ladder, he began to pull himself up to climb into Deidara’s bed. Inside, he happily sank into the lumpy mattress with a sigh. It wasn’t comfortable, but it was familiar enough to seem comfortable. Deidara only made his bed when he washed his blankets. Running his hand over the comforter, he knew Deidara had either not slept in the garage since he last washed them or just hadn’t slept.

All that studying and he was using his profiling skills on his boyfriend.

He turned his head to the side and smiled at the pictures that were at eye level – ones of the two of them from Christmas and New Years and other fun times. He made a mental note to get the blond a chekki camera for Christmas this year.

The ladder creaked as weight was put on it and he sat up. In no time, the blond climbed in with a damp towel wrapped around his hair and Milkshake on his shoulders. The kitten hopped down to greet Itachi happily, rolling onto his back for tummy touches. Only four were allowed. Any more and an attack was sure to come. Deidara sat down against the side of the bed, rubbing his hair lightly with his towel, not looking at him.

He was still worried about being pushed away.

“I just punched Daichi,” Itachi said before he could stop himself.

That hadn’t been what he meant to say, but now that his anger had died, the shock of his actions came to him.

“You what?” he asked, gaping at him, then down at the door to the main garage. “What for?”

“For being a total shithead,” Itachi stated, frowning. “You really should give me a good one too.”

The blond gave him a bitter smile. “No thanks,” he said, hanging his towel up and began combing his hair out.

Itachi returned the smile and gently moved Milkshake over so he could crawl over and drape himself over Deidara’s legs like the blond liked to do sometimes, wrapping his arms around him so he could bury his face in his stomach. He could feel his bones through his tshirt. “I can’t believe this,” he muttered, squeezing him tighter. “This is why I need you around all the time. I kept telling myself ‘I’ll call tomorrow’, and then got wrapped up in school and that car... As if they are actually important.”

“Wow, are you sick?” came Deidara’s voice, sounding more like his old self. “Did you just say ‘as if school is actually important’? I think we should head over to the hospital.”

“I’m serious,” Itachi voice was muffled by the blond’s shirt. The silence was broken by noises of mechanics in the main area that seemed to hurt his head. The magic of the garage tainted by Daichi’s betrayal. His own house felt like that sometimes. Like his father’s presence still judging him when he was alone there. “Do you want to go back to your place?” he asked, turning his head to look up at him.

“Not really,” Deidara mumbled back.

“Let’s go to my mom’s house then,” he suggested, sitting up. “We can eat dinner there, and sleep in my comfy bed… You look like you’ve been living off cigarettes and car fumes…”

“Sounds about right,” Deidara replied, scooping up his attention seeking cat and cradled him like a baby to rub under his chin.

They left soon after, both not really looking at anyone as they went out the door though every eye turned to look at them. Deidara gave a slight glance around, but didn’t see Daichi. His office door was shut and he wondered if the mechanic was in there. Had Itachi really hit Daichi? That seemed like something untrue, but Itachi wasn’t really a liar. The last time he had seen someone hit Daichi, it hadn’t ended well for that person. Deidara knew that with Itachi, there were probably more words thrown in than punches. He wondered what he had said, but wasn’t about to ask as they got in the familiar black car and drove away in silence. He didn’t like the silence, but didn’t know what to say. Really, he wanted to just forget what had happened, but it seemed pathetic to consider it. If he just started talking normally, perhaps Itachi would become irritated. Maybe. Maybe that was just him being paranoid. And then there was facing Itachi’s mother. He should have said no, but he knew Itachi could feel the presence of others in the building with them in the garage and wanted to be left alone. His apartment would have been a better choice, but he had been avoiding it because it was a place he’d stumbled too often. It would be better with Itachi there. Maybe later. Now he had to face Itachi’s mother after ignoring her for weeks because he knew she would be kind and he didn’t think he deserved it. Itachi certainly didn’t deserve someone like him.

Mikoto greeted them as usual when they walked in, sweeping them both into her warm embrace. As he expected, she held him carefully so she could examine him, concern etched on her face. He swallowed. “I quit doing drugs in November,” he stated blankly, something about her motherly super powers pulling the truth from him without her asking. “I’ve been going through withdrawal, un. I’m sorry.”

She looked at him a moment longer before touching his cheek gently. “That’s alright, Deidara,” she told him in a tone that said she didn’t think he needed to apologize for anything. “Almost five weeks. I’m very proud of you.”

Would have been longer if he hadn’t fucked up. “Thanks for the lunch box,” he said instead, rattling the container she’d sent Itachi with. 

She took it with her warm smile and went back into the kitchen. “Are you two hungry for dinner yet?”

Deidara felt Itachi looking at him and gave a half shrug. “Usually I take a nap… then homework,” he said, really wanting to just hide away and sleep for a while. He felt like Itachi had pushed a weight off his shoulders when he hugged him and now he just felt tired. Fuck tomorrow was Wednesday. That meant he had to go to school for three days before he could do something with Itachi. Maybe Itachi could pick him up from school and they could go out for coffee and snacks while Deidara did his homework like they used to. He smiled a little.

“You do look tired,” Mikoto said sympathetically as she came back into view. “How about this: you two go upstairs, do your homework and take a nap, and I’ll leave leftovers for you in the fridge.”

There was something incredibly comforting about Itachi’s room. Deidara often wished he was sleeping in it when he was at home, but he had felt guilt like he never had before the last few weeks and couldn’t bring himself to crawl into the window anymore. His eyes moved to Itachi and saw him look around the room fondly and knew he felt the same way about the space. Milkshake was pulled out of his pocket and set down on the floor before Deidara pulled out Milkshake’s travel stuff and set them up on the ground by Itachi’s desk so the kitten wouldn’t make a mess. He really should do his homework but with the mention of a nap, all he wanted to do was sleep and crawled into bed before Itachi could even suggest something related to school. The Uchiha followed him, pulling the covers over the pair of them as he wrapped them up in the thick comforter. They didn’t say anything. It was a comfortable silence that the blond would normal fall asleep within seconds to, but he found himself staring at the opposite wall as he had every night for weeks.

After what felt like several hours, but was really only perhaps one, Deidara was sure Itachi had fallen asleep and Milkshake had hopped up on the nightstand and was staring at the window across the room. Deidara wondered why he didn’t just go to the window, but assumed the kitten was waiting for him to fall asleep. Milkshake did that sometimes. Deidara was looking forward to the day when this insomnia part would end, but also when the chills wouldn't come at night. He could feel his hands shaking a little and was happy that he no longer felt nauseous. Milkshake looked at him with a concerned chirping noise when it started, but Itachi shifted and pulled him closer. Fuck he was waking Itachi up. The brunette, however, just slid his hand over his own and gave it a squeeze.

“You’re fine,” he murmured in his ear.

Deidara let out a slow breath, trying to force his body to relax. “Wanna hear something?” he whispered after a moment.

“Sure,” Itachi breathed out sleepily.

“You know how my brain goes a million miles a minute and I can’t stop talking?”

“Mm..”

“It’s like that all the time, and I can never sleep that’s why I’m always so tired, un,” he murmured, watching Milkshake look at him for a moment then tucked his tiny paws under his chest and closed his big, mismatched eyes, content that his owner was in good hands. “When I’m with you at night, it slows down a bit.”

Itachi made a pleased noise and hugged him tighter, pressing his nose against his neck. “Want to hear something too?” Itachi murmured, sounding half asleep.

“What?”

“I think I love you.” Deidara blinked, suddenly more wide awake than insomnia could make him. He wanted to turn around to stare at Itachi, but couldn’t move, frozen by the words. “I’m sorry,” Itachi murmured, sounding a little more awake as his hand came up to gently run across Deidara’s cheek. “I know it makes you uncomfortable, but I do…”

“It’s okay,” Deidara murmured back, staring at the opposite wall. It wasn’t something he enjoyed thinking about, but he felt Itachi settling back against him and decided, for now, that he would pretend it didn’t affect him. They were just words. For now, he let himself be tangled into the warmth of the bed and arms around him, feeling his body relax more than it had in a while. 

No worries, no cares…

Finally able to sleep.


	24. Chapter 24

“We could go out to dinner after you’re homework’s finished.”

“Holy shit, Itachi, are you kidding? I can’t eat anymore.”

Itachi never thought he’d hear those words from the blond. Ever.

Naturally, he suspected lies.

“I think you can eat a little more.”

“Itachi. I’ve eaten a sandwich package, two onigiri, fried chicken, noodles, an orange, two pears and pudding from the conbini and a sandwich from this café and coffee and a milkshake and you want me to eat more, un?” Deidara cried, throwing his hands up. “Are you trying to make sick _and_ fat?”

Itachi stared at him in disbelief. Had he made him eat that much? It hadn’t seemed like it. He still looked so thin. Actually, he looked rather sick, chewing on the straw of his milkshake like his mouth was tired. He thought back on what they had done that day and suddenly realized the blond was right. Maybe this was all a little too much. Deidara could always put away a lot of food, but even though he was eating normally again, he hadn’t seen much change in him since he came home.

“Sorry,” he said, reeling in the concerned boyfriend in him. Four days ago, Itachi had come home and fell back into the blond. They both silently agreed that they wanted to forget the mishap and had continued on with their lives as if it hadn’t happened. The two of them slipped into a similar pattern from before Itachi had left, the only difference was that Deidara only went home to his apartment every so often and both of them avoided the garage. Instead, Deidara slept with Itachi at his house, the brunette would drive him and Sasuke to school in the morning and pick Deidara up after school was over and take him to a café where they could get coffee and snacks while doing Deidara’s homework. Well, Deidara did his homework, Itachi watched him and happily listened to the blond chatter about his day. He couldn’t believe how easily Deidara was doing his work, praising the blond whose face grew smugger every time. He even got Deidara to the point where his ego was so big from the praise of his knowledge that he would be talked into discussing things that would be normally labeled as ‘too damn boring’. After they finished, they returned to the school to pick up Sasuke from his sports practices and return for dinner. Itachi wasn’t surprised that his brother and boyfriend got along so well. Well, when Deidara wasn’t teasing Sasuke into a rage. When that wasn’t happening, Sasuke and his friends enjoyed hearing about Deidara’s life, totally engrossed in his stories, attention which only made the blond talk more.

Itachi was a little concerned. From what he could see, Sasuke’s young mind only heard the fantasies his brain wanted. Deidara’s life was an adventure to him and his friends, appealing to the privileged youth that deemed itself misunderstood in their transition from child to approaching adulthood. Sasuke was hearing about a world where being different was looked up to. Free of worldly possessions and cares, full instead of music, dancing and the kind of life an actor leads while preforming in a movie about street life. What he didn’t seem to realize was the things their father told them about the ‘city kids’ was also true. It was hard to make an adolescent realize that they weren’t actors and couldn’t step out of hardships when the script took an unpleasant turn. Itachi had seen the flipside of those scenes. The hunger, the worry, the loneliness, the sickness. No matter how strong willed you were, there was always a time when you had to ignore your ego and scrape on the concrete for a taste of something you needed.

Deidara didn’t talk about the bad parts of his life. Instead, his stories were laced with games, dancing, and art. He told them about the graffiti murals the police tried to stop them from making, even though each one had the makings of being beautiful. Stories laced with hallucinations and outsmarting cops, leaving them reeling in their imaginations, dazed for hours with the pictures he put in their heads after Itachi and Deidara left the them.

Finally Friday. It had been quite aggravating for them, knowing that Itachi was finally back in the city, but Deidara had school to attend. The blond surprised him by informing him that he was determined to have a perfect attendance record because all his teachers were still expecting him to blow up the school or something. Now, a weekend and the two could actually do something fun for once.

There were a few frustrated clicks at his side as they stepped out into the cold December afternoon, unheated by the sun above them. The soft crackle of burning leaves and paper, the soft inhale and slow exhale. “Let’s go running,” Itachi suggested hopefully as he turned to watch Deidara pull the cigarette from his lips to exhale.

The look on the blond’s face answered the question before the words came out of his mouth. “Running is awful unless it’s from the cops,” came the grumble. “It’s too cold. Isn’t it unhealthy to run in cold weather?”

“Like smoking,” Itachi commented, but he knew Deidara was going to refuse. The blond hated exercise that looked like exercise.

“I’ve seen you smoke before, Mr. Healthy,” Deidara said in his defense.

Itachi watched the smoke curl in its dance to freedom with the clouds above that looked as though they wanted to rain. Or maybe snow. “Well, I saw you smoking all the time,” Itachi muttered. “I got used to the smell.” It was awfully cold though. Itachi glanced down at his own thick, felt coat and scarf, then at Deidara’s hoodie and leather jacket over his school uniform. A line appeared between Itachi’s brows as he examined him. He needed a real coat. And gloves. And a scarf. And…

“Alright, let’s go,” Itachi said, motioning for them to walk towards the closest department store, towering above them. “There’s some stuff I want to get.” Deidara snorted at him, giving him a ‘you like clothes shopping, you’re so weird’ look, despite the fact that Deidara liked clothes shopping as well and was much better at it than he was. The blond had gotten quite frustrated several times with Itachi’s own bland choice of clothing which had consisted of plain pants, jeans, and t-shirts until Deidara had repaired his abused wardrobe. Since then, he had gotten quite better at dressing himself to the point where he felt rather fashionable at times. Despite that, he didn’t really enjoy shopping for himself, but shopping for Deidara was an entirely different experience. The blond looked good in everything which made it easy. He remembered with a smile, that wide, cheek splitting grin he was given as he lay on his bunk this time last year, still too injured to rise, while Deidara showed him the clothes he had purchased for him and he asked what style of clothes Deidara liked to wear.

‘Cheap,’ Deidara had replied. Itachi hadn’t understood it then, but learned very quickly. Growing up with money all his life, his three months stuck in Daichi’s garage had been a culture shock and one that was probably very good for him. Watching and learning how these people survived with little or no money. Many of Deidara’s ‘new’ clothes were actually old clothes he had torn up and resewn after they were worn out and he had a special talent for turning things he had dug out of dumps or thrift stores into fashion.

Cheap was not entirely Deidara’s fashion style by choice though, Itachi knew. Since it was partially his fault that blond had very little money now, and he enjoyed shopping for the blond he would happily throw money at things for him. He pretended not to notice the thin fingers pocketing trinkets as they passed. He wished he would remember that if wanted the items, Itachi would get them for him, but many didn’t look like things Deidara would wear or use, so perhaps he intended to sell them. He couldn’t help watch out of the corner of his eye. His hands were so skilled at picking. Itachi could barely see the item disappear from shelf to pocket. It was as fascinating to watch as a magician playing with a pack of cards.

It took effort to stop watching him. His own hands, not nearly as graceful, reached up and picked out a long thick scarf with bright green and purple thread. Following it was two pairs of gloves – one cotton and decorated in obnoxious colors, the other insolated and thick for snow, a black knit hat with white skulls stitched in and tassels hanging from the ear flaps and a bundle of white braids of fabric protruding from the top like a small child’s pony tail.

A glance back showed his shadower not paying attention. Azure eyes flitted back and forth without being obvious, taking in any associates or customers that might notice his thievery. Itachi could care less, but he really didn’t want him to get caught. “Could you hold these for me?” he asked, handing him the armful of stuff. Deidara took them, putting on his best innocent face like he knew Itachi was trying to keep his hands to himself.

“Why do you have that look on your face?” Deidara asked him.

“What look?”

“Like you’re bracing for something, un.”

That was on his face? Itachi turned away from him and stared at the rows of coats in front of him. “What color coat do you want?” he asked, indeed bracing himself for the outburst that was sure to follow as Deidara realized Itachi wasn’t shopping for himself.

“You don’t have to get me anything, un,” Deidara insisted, eyes narrowing at him.

“I know I don’t, but I want to,” Itachi said, shifting through the pieces, glancing at the blond’s reflection in the narrow mirror between the displays.

“You can’t buy me.” 

“Hey,” Itachi turned, frowning at him. “What did I tell you? I am not one of your clients,” he murmured, prodding the blond’s forehead, then smiled. “I couldn’t afford you anyway.”

“Damn right you couldn’t,” Deidara muttered back. The blond looked ready to throw the items on the ground and storm away, but he looked down at them and paused, really looking at them. He liked them.

“If you toss them and stomp away, I’ll just come back and buy them later,” Itachi informed him, turning back to the coats. An annoyed sound hissed behind him, but Itachi ignored it. There were different colored winter coats, but none of them seemed really appealing. The navy colored felt button down would look good on him, but it looked so plain, which wasn’t Deidara… No, with a scarf and those converse sneakers warn from years of use and sharpie abuse and… Itachi swallowed. Goddamn it. Deidara was getting that coat. And he was wearing it. Even if it was just in front of Itachi. He grabbed it, slinging it over his shoulder and moved along to the next section where he picked up a hideous neon tie dye snow jacket with a picture of a snowboarder on the tag. Deidara’s grumbles were growing louder behind him as he moved down the clothes aisles, picking up shirts and sweaters and t shirts and a few pairs of jeans and a belt with bright blues, yellows and greens in the patter. The blond looked ready to throw one of his childish fits and storm out when they got to the dressing room, practically breathing down Itachi’s neck.

When they stepped inside the dressing room, he could see the words coming up his throat, muscles tensing to throw his armful down. Instead of letting him, Itachi took the bundle from him and pulled the blond’s hoodie off, hanging it on the gnarly looking hook on the wall. The blond sputtered, ready to be angry again, but Itachi pulled his school shirt up too, though only part of the way, blinding him and trapping his arms in the fabric. Smiling a little, he reached out and tickled the blond’s sides before hurriedly catching him before he crashed into the mirror in his escape attempt.

“I just want to know what size,” he told him, tugging the shirt back down and wrapped his neck up with the scarf he had chosen. He held up the coat for him to put on. “Please.”

The temperamental monster simmer to a grumbling teenager as Deidara made a show of jamming his arms into the holes to show how much he didn’t want to do it. Itachi sat down to watch him pull the coat the rest of the way on to button it up, then twist to examine himself in the full length mirror, tugging his hair out from under the fabric. Itachi’s eyes hadn’t lied to him.

“You look really sexy,” he blurted out before he could catch himself.

In the mirror, Deidara blinked in surprise and glanced over his shoulder to stare at him. Itachi realized with a hint of guilt that that sentence was one he didn’t, but should say more often. He nodded to confirm the blond had heard right, crossing his legs at his knee to lean back against the wall. Deidara made a muffled grunt in the back of his throat and turned to the mirror to examine himself before shimmying out of his old, destroyed jeans and shoes and reach to pick up the new ones. It was a rather cruel gesture that may have been intentional but Itachi couldn’t be sure. Deidara had such nice legs for someone who refused to exercise. Probably from all the walking and skateboarding he did. Seeing him with his coat hanging over anything important had a similar affect as to seeing the blond wandering sleepily to breakfast in Itachi’s extra pajamas. He almost made a disappointed noise when the blond pulled on one of the new jeans, cutting off his fantasies. They hadn’t had sex since Itachi had been back, the Uchiha waiting for Deidara to make a move that showed him it was okay, because Itachi blamed himself for the blond’s recovering state of health. Part of him wondered if the blond was waiting for him to make a move, but seemed perfectly happy to sleep in his favorite position against him in Itachi’s bed. He tried not to let his pout slip out onto his face as he watched him button up the jeans and slip the belt on.

“These are the right size,” Deidara stated after a pause, tugging at the pockets. “I guess I like the belt. Why are you getting me all this stuff, un?”

Reaching out to grasp the back of his jacket, he tugged the blond backwards to stumble into his lap. “Two reasons,” he stated. “One, because if you are properly dressed you won’t feel the cold and will do things outside with me. And two, because I promised you something and you need to be properly dressed.”

“Properly dressed?” Deidara asked, looking back at him in confusion. “For what? What promise?”

“The promise I made to take you to a resort,” Itachi reminded him. “Cause I couldn’t come on Halloween. My family used to go to this place when I was a kid and I checked it out. Still there, covered in snow.”

“Snow already?” he saw the blond grin.

“Mhm. It’s like a hotel, but there’s places for skiing and snowboarding and tubing… There’s hot springs and—”

“You had me at snow, un,” Deidara told him, twisting in his lap so he could look at him. “You’ve been planning a trip? When are we going?”

“I was thinking the day after you go on break,” Itachi said with a slight shrug, trying to stay as uncaring and stoic as possible. He was quite excited for this trip.

“Next week?” He loved seeing those blue eyes light up so bright with happiness. Deidara always smiled with his whole face.

“Yep,” Itachi told him. “Actually, since you have a half day on Friday, I already bought tickets. I’ll pick you up from school and we’ll go straight there.”

“Nice. How long of a drive is it?”

“Oh, we’re flying. The car will stay at th—”

“Flying!?” Deidara cried, leaping to his feet. His innocent, unaltered excitement made Itachi’s thoughts stumble, staring at him as he clenched his fists into tight balls of anticipation. He had thought Deidara’s pout was the cutest expression he could pull on him, but he had never seen this one before. “I love airplanes!”

His voice snapped Itachi out of his trance. “It’s just like driving a car,” Itachi told him, not wanting him to be disappointed on the flight. Anything to not dash this expression to the ground.

“But in the air, un!”

“Yeah,” Itachi replied, unable to hold back his grin. The happiness radiating off the blond now was infectious. “Let’s go pay for the stuff and go to your place.”

“You don’t want to go to my place,” Deidara insisted with a frown. “It’s freezing.”

“I don’t mind,” Itachi told him, though he knew he’d be complaining about being cold later, as he always ended up doing. At least he had his human heater again.

Together they walked out of the dressing room, leaving the extra sizes of jeans on the rack, and took the things they were buying to the registers. Itachi was pleased that, despite his protests, Deidara wore the coat and scarf out of the store, stuffing his hoodie in the bag with the rest of his knew things.

“Thank, sugar daddy.”

Itachi stopped dead. “Ugh, don’t call me that,” he said with a cringe. “It’s just clothes.”

Deidara laughed as he dumped his bags into Itachi’s trunk then climbed into the passenger seat. The drive to the apartment was short and soon they were climbing the stairs to Deidara’s room. A young man came down the stairs, holding a small girl and stopped short when he saw them. “Oh, hey, Deidara,” he greeted. “Where’ve you been?”

“Not here,” Deidara said vaguely, but not nastily.

There was a shuffling in the open room where the children who were fostered here lived and Rin came out, having heard his voice. “Hey, Deidara, are you okay?” she asked, concern pinching her brows. “Hi Itachi.”

“Yep,” Deidara answered, swinging the shopping bag he was carrying in a circle.

“Hi Rin,” Itachi greeted as Deidara continued to climb the stairs. “How’s Suki?”

“Getting big,” Deidara heard Rin answer. He didn’t have to look back to know she was watching him. He also knew that Itachi would quickly follow him instead of chatting, which he did. It was strange opening his door and not being greeted by Milkshake. Going inside, he dropped his bags on the ground and flopped down onto his mattress which felt much lumpier after sleeping in Itachi’s bed the last few days. He watched Itachi look around the room as if it was as nostalgic as his own, wondering a little about the Uchiha. His dark eyes finally met Deidara’s and gave him a curious expression.

“You’re weird, you know that?” Deidara said, unbuttoning the new coat. He reached into the bag to pull out one of his new sweaters which was thick and extra oversized.

“Not nearly as weird as you,” Itachi responded, sitting down next to him and watching him tug the tags off his clothes and began pulling on almost all of them on for fun. They leaned back against the wall as Deidara lit a cigarette, wondering again. He was feeling much better now than he had a few days ago. He wondered if it was because Itachi was here or if he knew now that Itachi hadn’t ditched him. Maybe both. He probably would have dug himself out of his pathetic state eventually, but it had been difficult with Daichi still ignoring him and taking him off projects because his hands weren’t steady enough yet to work on cars. He’d have gotten over it eventually. Everything would end in time, he knew.

He glanced at Itachi who was looking at the new additions to his walls he had spray painted on ages ago. Any time was an instant depending on how you looked at it. “Are you avoiding me?” he asked in a playful tone, turning his nose up as he put his cigarette back in his mouth.

Itachi looked confused. Deidara liked confusing Itachi. The Uchiha was too damn smart for his own good. “No?” Itachi replied. “I’ve been—”

“Not that kind of avoiding,” Deidara said, flicking his ashes into his tray and set it back down on the floor. “I saw you pretending not to stare at me, un.”

The brunette’s expression changed to abashed. “When?”

Crunching his cigarette carefully to save what was left, he turned face him, leaning over him as he sat up on his knees. “In the mirror when I was trying the coat on, un,” Deidara told him, smirking at him. “I just figured it out.”

“Figured what out?” he asked, tilting his head slightly to the side.

“Why you’ve been avoiding me,” he answered.

“I’ve been with y—”

“You think you have to wait for me to let you know you’re forgiven, huh?” Deidara asked, turning his head around to look at Itachi from a different angle. “Cause you think you fucked up too, right?” He smirked again at the stunned look on Itachi’s face and reached out to flick his forehead imitating the way Itachi flicked Sasuke when he teased his brother. “Dumbass,” he laughed, posing for him. “Aren’t I always sexy? Or just in clothes you pick out for me, un?”

“Always, definitely,” Itachi said, looking slightly relieved. “I’m not a dumbass.”

“Yeah you are,” Deidara grinned.

Itachi looked at him a moment, then exhaled and reached out to pull him closer, pressing his face into his chest. “I guess I am sometimes,” he murmured, then knocked the blond onto the bed. Deidara grinned and leaned up to happily meet the kiss Itachi crawled on top of him to give. “These weren’t bribes,” the brunette insisted around the kiss. “I really did buy the tickets on Halloween. I really did,” another kiss, “want to spend time,” another kiss, “alone with you.”

“Shut up and take all these new clothes off,” Deidara snickered.

The following week passed so slowly, Deidara thought he would have to break something just to make something frantic happen that would cause time to speed up. Probably wouldn’t work. And Itachi was not helping because he seemed to enjoy watching him fidget and twitch as the week slowly crept on, giving him a look that may have just been a glance to anyone who didn’t know him, but Deidara had come to recognize it as Itachi trying not to give an adoring expression in public. He thought his impatience was cute. The bastard. He didn’t have to sit in class all day. Every day. When Friday finally did come, he was so overwhelmed by excitement, he felt like he took seven too many scoops of sugar in his coffee that morning. Thankfully most of his teachers felt the same way their students did about the half day before school let out for winter break. Honestly, who would want to do work when half the student body was either away or had skipped. Five hours of shortened classes and Deidara could barely wait to get out. Five pointless hours. He could be doing anything. He could be packing – wait, he had already packed. He could be talking to his friends – he looked down at his phone as it gave a soft jingle to show he had a text message; he was already talking to them. He could have already left for his snow vacation with Itachi. There. No excuses for that one. Stupid school.

Itachi’s texts were slower than normal today, he must be doing something like some last minute touches on his car, or letting Mikoto harass him. All day Deidara scribbled doodles on his papers, picking at the chipping polish on his nails, staring angrily at the clock to will it to be 12:35. Itachi promised to be waiting for him outside.

He had informed the garage of his upcoming absence on Wednesday when he had gone with Itachi to get the rest of his clothes from his bunk, cheerfully telling the others – making sure Daichi was in the room so he’d hear that he’d be gone and couldn’t race, that they were flying. Daichi had commented, much closer to how he’d been before Halloween, for Deidara to stop trying to kill himself, using a tone that made it hard to tell if he was being serious or not. Itachi’s face had contorted into an expression that was trying to conceal horror. It was similar to the one Mikoto had given Sasuke the day he had come home covered in blood and gravel with the explanation that he was learning to skateboard. Two hours later, the majority of the rubble was out of his body and Mikoto was asking Deidara, who had been laughing on the sofa, to teach her son to skateboard without killing himself. Itachi always seemed to find a reason to panic over him. He always forgot Deidara had been taking care of himself for a decade. His skills weren’t going to diminish that fast. On their way out, Deidara had noticed Daichi looking at them like he wanted to stop them and say something but the two of them had hurried out to be in time for dinner and they hadn’t spoken. Deidara wondered if Daichi was going to tell him he had to move out of the garage officially, but decided not to think about it till he got back from his vacation.

One more hour. Goddamn it! The clock was fucking with him. It had to be. He could swear he’d been sitting in Art class for an hour instead of the twenty minutes the face claimed. He was partially glad it wasn’t a full day. He might have cracked and ran out of the school by now. All around him was chattering students and the sound of the record player streaming David Bowie from its speakers. His teacher claimed old classics helped inspire art and played a new vinyl record every day. She let the students wear their own headphones if they wanted, so long as they could hear her over the volume, but Deidara rather liked the music she played.

“Mrs. Yokoda?”

“Yes,” his teacher called out to the intercom without looking up.

“Could you send Deidara down to the principal’s office with his things, please?”

Deidara started in shock from where he’d been bent over his sketchbook, detailing the school burning to the ground. “What the hell for?! I haven’t done anything, un!” he snapped at the offending speaker before his teacher could reply.

“Now, please,” came the amused voice on the other end before the intercom clicked of.

There was a collective snicker around him from his classmates, but he was not amused. There was a knot in his stomach he hadn’t felt since his first day of school in grade one. He hadn’t done anything, he told himself as he rose and took his bag with him, setting his sketchbook and pencils in his cubby and walked out the door, trying not to look as horrified as he felt. By the time he got to the office, he was kicking himself in frustration. Half of him was in a pure panic, wanting to hyperventilate at the same pace as his pounding heart. The other side was chanting to himself that he had done nothing wrong, and in any case, he didn’t care! He never cared! Why should he start now? Maybe it was because he had been trying so hard to be good this year, it was getting to his head. Itachi was rubbing off on him. Quite certain that every baby hair on his body was standing on end with his overreacting nerves, he entered the office and stepped up to the desk of the secretary.

To his great surprise, she smiled at him and handed him a pink slip of paper. It had his name on it, the date, the time, and also a message scrawled there that caused his forehead to crease with a frown. “‘Deidara has permission to leave school early on December 17th. Permission given by guardian on December 17th, 11:27AM,’” he read aloud under his breath. Under the note was an add on sentence that read: ‘Not for repetitive use’. There was no trust. “What is this?”

“I couldn’t wait.”

Spinning on his heel to face the voice, he stared at Itachi as he rose from his cushioned chair. The Uchiha had a grin on his face as he took Deidara’s elbow and led him outside. Once they were at his car, Itachi burst out laughing in his own fashion, which was more of soft chuckle. “You should have seen the look on your face,” he told him, beeping the alarm off so they could get into the car. “Did you think you were in trouble or something?”

“Why else would I get called to the office,” Deidara grumbled as he got in the car, reaching over to punch Itachi’s shoulder as he got in next to him. “Asshole.” Itachi continued to chuckle softly as he turned the car on. “How did you get them to let me go, un?”

“I had Daichi call the school to let you out early and let me pick you up,” Itachi explained, putting the car in gear and pulled out of the school parking lot.

“You talked to Daichi?” Deidara asked in surprise.

“Ah… Well, I had mom call Daichi,” Itachi admitted.

“Coward,” Deidara laughed.

They had already packed the night before. Itachi had barely been able to get Deidara to stop fidgeting and get to sleep last night, he had been so excited. The brunette, as usual, was overly calm and patient with everything, making sure everything was in order with his car when they reached the airport parking lot, filling out the needed form carefully while Deidara was ready to bolt to the door. They were early, but Deidara was so excited he felt almost frantic that they had to get inside immediately or miss their chance. His excitement delayed them immensely at customs. He was sick of showing his ticket to every other person, sick of having to go back and walk through the metal detector again because he kept forgetting to take something off while Itachi waited for him on the other side. By the time they reached their gate, Deidara’s excitement had dropped to being completely pissed off at everything. They weren’t even leaving the country for crying out loud. Who cares if he had something in his pocket, or his belt was on, or he forgot he had two phones, or that he was wearing a necklace, or that he had a bottle of soda in the pocket of his cargo pants, in addition to his swiss army knife, his lock pick, spare change, a yoyo, a key that he forgot what it went to, a pack of gum and a lot of other odds and ends he had stuck in the pockets.

Itachi bought him a milkshake to make him feel better.

And then waiting.

It was another long hour before they were finally handing their tickets over to be scanned by the gate attendants. “Can I have a window seat, un?” Deidara asked as he followed Itachi down the long hallway that took them to the plane’s door.

“I made sure you got a window seat,” Itachi assured him, smiling back at him as they stepped onto the small plane and he led them to their seats.

Itachi had the patience of a mountain and it wasn’t until times like this that Deidara saw it. The people in front of them were glancing back to give him dirty looks as he fiddled with every gadget and knob, slide and fold away. He opened and shut the window, he stood up to look around, he pushed buttons and flipped through the information packets in the pockets of the seat in front of him. Itachi just smiled at him as he explored. Deidara didn’t know the point of half the stuff, but it was fun to play with and his window was great, though it would be much better if it was bigger. Itachi had picked the best seat for him, where he could see things easily and could look back to see the wings.

“Is it time to go up? What are we waiting for, un?” he asked, turning back to Itachi, seeing the grin on his face. “What?”

“Nothing,” Itachi said, waving it off. “We’ll go up in a little while. They have to make sure everyone’s on the plane and we’re not going to die when we’re in the air. It’ll be a little while.”

Grumbling, Deidara slumped back against the seat and stared out the window at the planes taking off on the landing strips. When a whole minute passed and he was starting to lose patience with the wait again. He turned back to Itachi to ask how long it was, but stopped. “Why do you keep smiling at me like that, un?”

“Sorry. Just thinking about how cute you look when you get so excited,” Itachi admitted, wrapping his arm around Deidara’s shoulders to pull him close. Deidara grinned at him, tilting his chin up at him so Itachi could lean in and kiss it. With a soft giggle, he pulled his feet up on the seat to get comfortable against him. Someone in the aisle across from them cleared their throat pointedly, obviously disliking their cuddling. He smirked in their direction and leaned up to kiss Itachi, massaging his own lips against Itachi’s. He had used his chap stick in the car.

“It’s not nice to bother people,” Itachi whispered to him, running his fingers through his hair.

“They shouldn’t be so homophobic, un,” he muttered back, resting his head back on Itachi’s shoulders so he could stare out the window. He hated people like that. Get with the times. They weren’t hurt by it.

“I know,” Itachi said, giving him a squeeze and kissing the top of his head. “It’s a short flight. Soon we’ll be away from them and we’ll have a whole vacation to mock all the homophobic people in the world in our room.”

Laughter burst out of him, throwing his head back as Itachi gently rubbed his shoulder. “You’re being awfully affectionate lately,” Deidara commented, ignoring the show of shuffling and throat clearing next to them.

“I can’t help it when you’re acting this cute,” Itachi said, absentmindedly playing with his hair. “I know you like to cuddle, even though you grumble about it. You’re warm, you smell good, and I like you. Why can’t I be affectionate?”

“I dunno, it’s just not like you, un,” Deidara said with a shrug. “Not complaining, just wondering.”

The flight attendant’s voice came on the overhead speakers telling them that they would be preparing to take off now. Deidara sat up straight and buckled his seat, tense with alert excitement, ready to experience flight again.

And then more waiting.

And more waiting.

When the plane finally began to move, Deidara plastered himself to the window, watching the land beginning to move passed them at an increasing pace. All of a sudden, he felt as though the ground was trying to pull his stomach out of his ass, but it was an exhilarating feeling. Within the blink of an eye, the ground suddenly looked like monopoly pieces that had all been professionally painted. Like the miniature railway mountains or war scenes made of Styrofoam and tiny toothpicks. The plane twisted on its side and the whole city laid out before him.

He pressed his face to the window. “Itachi, look!” he cried, staring at the land below. How could a bird ever land? How could they stop looking at this? It was so amazing he could barely breathe. When the plane leveled out he could see the horizon, the city outlined in blue that traveled down to gradient into a gray haze that meshed into the city and fussed out the sharp edges of the city. It was so beautiful.

Then they broke through the clouds.

“Wow…” he breathed, clutching the window. It was so incredible. The sun, the sky, the clouds. It looked like he could jump out and walk on top of them. “It’s amazing.”

“I knew you’d like it,” came the soft voice in his ear, the breath giving him goosebumps, the weight of his chin on his shoulder. It brought him out of his staring.

It was a short flight, but Deidara spent the whole time glued to the window, though he was aware of Itachi’s eyes watching him the whole time. He didn’t understand the look he was giving him, but it was friendly and comfortable so he didn’t mind it so much. When they landed, they got on a bus that took them out of the airport, which he didn’t enjoy nearly as much. He told Itachi how he sometimes rode buses home when he didn’t feel like walking and he always saw weird people. Once, he and a few friends had once taken a bus to the beach. They just seemed to take forever. When Itachi finally pointed out the resort, Deidara’s excitement mounted again as he stared at the snow-covered land. The building was huge, but only two stories, spread out instead of up. Behind the building, a few snow tubing tunnels and bunny slopes were visible. The city had no snow yet, but here, there already was several inches, maybe even a foot of snow on the ground. As soon as the bus stopped, Deidara was climbing over Itachi and rushing to the door so he could be the first one out the door to leap out into the snow.

Apologizing to the bus driver, who only smiled and shook his head with a chuckle, Itachi followed after the rest of the passengers who stood around waiting for their bags to be unloaded. Deidara was in the snow, happily flopping around like a fish out of water. “You look very childish doing that,” Itachi told the blond.

“You might have less eye wrinkles if you let yourself be a little childish, un,” Deidara told him, snickering when Itachi sputtered, quite unlike himself, telling him that he didn’t have eye wrinkles. Crawling out of the snow and back onto the dusty road, he dusted himself off, “I’m teasing. Don’t be mad.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Itachi muttered, helping him up. “Come on, we gotta go check into our suite.”

“Our suite?”

A suite.

With a sitting room, a huge bedroom with a queen size bed, set up like it popped out of a brochure. The walls were painted just off white and it was the only thing Deidara didn’t like when he walked in. he wanted to go at it with a paint bucket, but since he was missing paint, he wandered around into the bathroom and the walls were forgotten. He dropped his suitcase and messenger bag to the ground and stared inside. The bathroom could be another bedroom, just with the wrong furniture. It was fully stocked with smelly soaps, shampoos, conditioners, and candles. Everything one could possibly imagine in a bathroom get away was in there, except for your own personal massage therapist. Those were on the first floor according to the menu set on the sink counter between the bowled sinks. The floors were carpeted in the rest of the suite, but the bathroom was tiled.

On their way up to the suite, the host had given them a brief walk through of the features the resort had both inside and out. The first floor contained the lounge, the gift shop, and the spa. Deidara always wanted to try a spa, but they were always expensive. ‘Included in the weekly rate’ was whispered in Deidara’s ear, letting him know that this wasn’t just some getaway resort trying to look nice. This place didn’t spare a cent for their customers and Itachi had dug into his savings to give him it as a present.

He had received a sideways kick for that.

“This place is amazing,” Deidara told him, climbing up onto the bed so he could sit on his suitcase to stop him from trying to unpack.

“I thought you’d like it,” he replied, trying to tug the suitcase out from under him. “When I was little, my family and cousins would come here sometimes.”

“Nice,” Deidara commented, shifting to keep himself on top of the suitcase. “It’s a week, Itachi. We can live out of our suitcases, un.”

“Why would we? What kind of places have you been on vacation?” Itachi asked, giving him an odd look as he nudged the blond off his suitcase.

“I live out of my laundry basket at home,” Deidara reminded him, lopsided grin sneaking on his face at the expression. “Crazy, huh?”

“Well, I’m going to humor myself and put our clothes away in the dressers and closet provided for us,” Itachi told him, giving him a light push onto the bed and gathered his clothes from the suitcase to put away. “So you liked the plane?” When he rattled his blond head like a bobble head toy, Itachi smiled. “Not so much the bus, huh?”

“I told you, I’ve been on buses before,” Deidara told him, lounging on the bed, “I’ve been on a plane before too, just not since I was little, un.”

“Really?” he asked, hanging up Deidara’s things in the closet.

“Yeah, when I used to go to Germany to visit family,” Deidara said casually. “I mean, it’s been a while.”

Itachi finished putting the clothes away and came to join him on the bed, his hand reaching out to rub the blond’s stomach, filled happily with junk from the airport and the plane. Itachi hadn’t eaten anything except pretzels, but Deidara had enough for a few people.

“I bet you’re hungry,” Deidara commented, rocking himself from side to side under Itachi’s hand.

“I am, but it can wait,” Itachi murmured, petting the smoothness of his skin. “I feel a bit jetlagged, maybe we should take a nap.”

“Jetlagged? We didn’t even leave the time zone,” Deidara laughed with a little pout. “We just got here, un! There’s the tubing and all that stuff the lady was talking about to do, and I’ve always wanted to snowboard.”

“We’ve got all week to do that,” Itachi told him. “Right now, I’m just pleased to have some alone time with you. I turned my cell off.”

“Haha, me too,” Deidara smirked, letting Itachi drag him up to the head of the bed. They peeled their clothes off and crawled under the silky blankets, Deidara commenting about the pointlessness of huge beds like this before Itachi dragged him down onto the mattress and pulled the thick blankets around them, pulling him close like a sleeping toy.

“Sleep well.”

“You too,” Deidara said, shifting a little to get comfortable enough to lie still, kicking at the covers so he could properly curl up against Itachi and relax, despite the fact that snowy adventures awaited him outside.


	25. Chapter 25

When they awoke, the whole week was laid out for them to do whatever they wanted. Itachi tried to make a schedule so they wouldn’t miss anything, but each time he tried, Deidara tore it up. Literally. Each time, he gave him that wide, playful grin that always kept the brunette from getting too annoyed at him. After the first two days of this, they ended up doing things Deidara’s way: spontaneously. Most of their time was spent outside in the snow. Itachi had intended to spend the first day walking around to get a feel for the place, but he suddenly felt like the parent of a hyperactive child who just ate an entire cake after chugging a pot of coffee. Anything interesting Itachi saw was filed into his mental notes of things they should check out later. Anything interesting Deidara saw had to be investigated or tried right away, even if it meant stopping something he was in the middle of trying out.

The first thing that caught Deidara’s attention was the snow tubing hills that were directly behind the building. They grabbed the giant tubes and let themselves be hooked onto the train that slowly dragged them up the hill.

“I bet I can beat you down, un,” Deidara called down to Itachi.

“Maybe,” Itachi called back. “But I weigh more than you so I might go faster.”

He hadn’t taken into account that Deidara was a cheater who rushed to throw himself down the tunnel, riding his tube on his stomach before Itachi had even gotten to his line. He sighed irritably as he watched the blond flying over the mounds of snow before coming to a crashing halt at the bottom. Itachi watched the distant form get up and cheer for himself with a shake of his head. He changed lanes and went down sitting, taking out Deidara’s legs as he went by. He laughed as the blond pushed himself back up and told him to watch out for other tubers and the game was on. They spent two hours racing each other down the slopes and then trying to knock the other off the pulley on their way back up. The downside was when Deidara finally managed to knock Itachi’s tube off the pulley, he also knocked someone else’s and they were scolded by the staff and they decided to leave.

“That was fun,” Deidara stated, his big blue eyes staring around for something else. “Look snowboarding lessons. Let’s go.”

“Uh—” Itachi started, but the blond was already halfway there so he followed anyway. He preferred skis, but had a feeling that Deidara wouldn’t appreciate this beginner’s class which consisted mostly of young people and their parents. Indeed, Deidara lasted about twenty minutes before he gave it up. The same thing happened with skiing, though Deidara only had to try the skis on before he decided he didn’t like them and dragged them over to ice skate.

“I have an idea,” Deidara said, spinning in a wide circle circle.

“Should I be worried?” Itachi asked with a grin.

Deidara ignored the comment. “I work best under pressure,” he informed him. “Let’s go up to those big hills, un.” He pointed a ways away, passed the bunny hills for beginners learning to snowboard and ski to the bigger hills.

“I think we should start with the smaller hills,” Itachi said, a little worried. “It’s been a while since I skied anyway.”

“Trial by fire,” Deidara insisted, grabbing onto him as he passed.

“Maybe later,” Itachi said, gripping his sleeve so they wouldn’t fall. “Are you getting hungry?”

“I’m starving!” Deidara cried, as though he’d been complaining of it all day. They returned their skates and made their way through the snow back to the main building, Deidara jumping on top of Itachi’s back to be carried inside. When they sat down for their hot pot, the blond chatted endlessly about what he wanted to do in the afternoon ranging from building a snow city and sledding into it to riding the tubes again to see how high he could get to having an intense snowball battle with any lucky stranger who he fancied clobbering with snow. Playing in the snow, however, is much more work than it seems and after filling themselves with warm soup, they couldn’t bring themselves to pull their outside gear back on and went back to their room to pass out on the huge bed.

The following days were similar, playing out in the snow until they were hungry and took a long nap in the afternoon. Later, they wandered into the spa for a massage, or a soak in the hot springs, or some of the other services the resort offered. Deidara often commented when Itachi suggested they go that the spa was the most ridiculous thing ever invented and totally unnecessary, but Itachi knew he was enjoying himself because it didn’t take much to convince him to go. The blond was always happy about being pampered so much, trying something new every day, followed by a massage before dinner. As he insisted he would, Deidara had mastered the snowboard in trial-by-fire manner, taking on a difficult slope while Itachi followed behind him worriedly on his skis. Deidara commented disappointedly that the resort didn’t have a place to practice tricks and flips on a snowboard, to which Itachi silently thanked the resort for. He didn’t want to have to take the blond home with crutches, or worse. Itachi favorite part of the whole resort was the hot springs and went after dinner to soak in the steaming water. Deidara also enjoyed it, but grew bored quickly and made the other patrons angry while he played in the water to entertain himself until Itachi got out.

Friday night, Itachi opened his eyes and stared at the shadows of the dresser and large mirror. He wasn’t sure what woke him at first. His internal clock told him it was still both very early and very late. A no-time where only a few functioned and most slept soundly. The room was almost in total darkness save for a tiny haze of light that forced its way around the drawn thick curtains. The sound of movement next to him made him realize it had been Deidara who woke him up, however accidentally. He was shifting restlessly, though sluggishly, but Itachi had gotten used to the blond’s increase in activity since his return. Withdrawal had left the blond with restless shakes, but they had been slowly decreasing. In fact, he hadn’t had any problems all week, but Itachi felt that was partially due to exhaustion from their play in the snow and in their room.

Shifting, Itachi rolled onto his side and wrapped his arm around Deidara’s waist, pulling him close against him. He must be at least half asleep, since the blond didn’t react to the movement. Itachi pressed his nose against the curve of his neck. “What’s wrong, Dei?” he whispered to him, relaxing into the new position.

The blonds shifting stilled a little at his voice and he gave a long, sleepy sigh. He mumbled sleepily, “I wanna stay here, un…”

Ah… tomorrow was the day they were going home. He gave Deidara’s stomach a soft pat. “Are you okay?” he asked quietly. “You were shaking.”

“I’m cold,” came the sleepy reply, which was a lie and made Itachi frown a little. The blond was always warm, radiating his own heat in a way that Itachi, who was always cold, never could. Deidara was still half asleep and he wondered if he was so use to lying about his withdrawal that he could do it in his sleep.

“I had fun this week with you,” Itachi murmured, hugging him tighter.

“Me too..”

“Next week is Christmas.”

“I still wanna stay here… I think… we shouldn’t go back,” Deidara murmured. “Bad feeling…” He rolled around and slid his arms out from under the blankets to wrap around him, tangling their legs together.

“What about?” he asked, but Deidara had fallen back into a deeper sleep, finally still and breathing deep again. Curiosity ignited, Itachi was tempted to wake the blond up for an answer, but knew it would be pointless. He wondered if he was sleepily making excuses to stay here and smiled, happy with the thought that the blond had enjoyed himself as much as he had. He didn’t really want to go home either.

When they returned home, Christmas holiday season had sprung up. He was sure it had done so earlier, but he hadn’t spent much time around the city so he hadn’t noticed the decorations. Deidara enjoyed decorating for Christmas, almost more than he enjoyed Halloween. Despite all his grumbling and feet dragging the whole way home, the blond had jumped right into making and putting up decorations at the garage and his mother’s house. Daichi had a real tree in his garage which added an interesting, but rather nice scent to mix with the familiar car scents that drifted out into the streets. String lights hung in the bunks and eating area where Daichi had set up a huge tiny town with a train that moved along the tracks. Itachi was impressed to find out that the blue haired man had built the whole thing himself, including the train and the little figures that danced mechanically across the ice rink. It had been a present for Rin a few years ago and meant a lot to her, something that was obvious as she helped Daichi bring it out of storage and set it up.

The two of them spent as little time in the garage as possible, both still feeling a little awkward and Deidara, a bit unwanted. Someone had asked for their help and the blond agreed. Snowflakes were cut out of paper and old decorations hauled out of the closets to decorate their work and home. Several times, Itachi caught Daichi looking as if he were debating saying something to the blond, but with so many people there, never got to it. Itachi hmphed a little to himself, feeling that Daichi’s pride was what was preventing him from talking to the blond and was quite unsympathetic.

Mikoto let Deidara help plan for the decorations of the Uchiha house, something Sasuke had always wanted to do, but Fugaku had thought they were a waste of time and only let Mikoto set up a tree and wreath on the door. Now the dark red oak stained rails of the stairs that matched the floors of the house had twists of evergreen garlands and red ribbons, with tiny silver bells. The impressive fireplace mantle in the living room had more garlands and candles. Tall holders with thin candles or flat bowls with fat ones. The chandelier in the living room and dining room had glass icicles and white pearl trains on them. The tree that stood in the space between the living room, dining room, and kitchen was a beautiful array of lights, more pearls, and ornaments. Itachi had never seen his house so beautiful. He had never cared much for holidays, but seeing how happy his brother was putting up lights and hanging popped corn and cranberry strings that stained his hands in the garden out front made his heart swell with warm fondness for his brother. Deidara had spent an entire day building an impressive gingerbread house made entirely out of candy, chocolate and graham crackers. He had never thought of Deidara as being one of great patience, but there was painstaking detail over the entire house as well as small features like a bridge over an iced over river and freakishly realistic looking car made from marzipan throwing up snow as it drove towards the house. His mother deemed it too beautiful to eat, but Deidara and Sasuke had shared a skeptical look and Itachi was certain that it would definitely get eaten eventually.

“And then destroyed,” Deidara added gleefully.

On Christmas Eve, the two of them had returned to Deidara’s apartment for some alone time, wrapped up together in Deidara’s blankets on the mattress. In front of them on the floor was a makeshift fire made from candles of all shapes and sizes. It was simple, they had agreed that they didn’t want to do anything special. Everywhere would be crowded with couples anyway. Itachi was sure Deidara had fallen asleep against his shoulder, the warm light from the flickering candles and the sight of the sleeping kitten at their feet made the messy, frugal room Deidara lived in feel homely and comfortable.

Itachi smiled, feeling as though this particular Christmas was almost like a movie. He had the urge to kiss the blond but didn’t want to wake him.

“Itachi?” Apparently, he wasn’t asleep, so Itachi leaned down and give him a soft kiss on the fore head while making a quiet noise of inquiry. “Sorry… I didn’t get you a present…”

“I told you not to get me anything,” Itachi reminded him, stretching his legs out from the cramped position.

“Yeah, but people never mean that, un.”

“I know you would never meant it,” Itachi commented. “But I did mean it. You don’t have to waste your money on me.”

“Can I do something for you instead?” he was asked.

He wondered slightly if it was a sly invitation, but his question made him think instead. “Promise me something?” he said. “Next time you run into problems… money, or anything, call me and let me know? I don’t want anything to happen to you because you couldn’t get something you need, or… anything.”

Deidara shifted so he could look up at him, eyes sparkling in amusement. “Only if you promise not to worry so much.”

“I will always worry too much,” Itachi told him. “But I will try not to.”

“Fine, I guess I promise,” Deidara replied, grinning as he slid onto Itachi’s lap and kissed him. The soft touches of his mouth brought back memories of their vacation. Itachi silently lamented that Deidara didn’t have a decent sized bathtub. They definitely needed to reenact their hot spring experience, especially the one night they had found themselves alone and the two of them discovered that hot springs were not a good place for foreplay when the two of them became woozy and Itachi had fainted from the heat. He would absolutely not faint in a normal bath tub and need to be carried back to bed by his hysterically laughing boyfriend. How embarrassing.

Deidara’s fingers slide up into his hair, giving his whole scalp a shiver or relief as their kiss deepened and his finger slid under the blond’s shirt, feeling up his sides as he slowly pushed his shirt up.

And his phone rang with his mother’s ring tone.

“Fuck!”

Deidara burst out laughing at Itachi’s reaction to the interruption, turning his head to kiss into his neck, hips moving in slow circles. “Who is it?” he asked.

“Mom,” Itachi replied with a soft groan. He ignored the ring as it finally died, hands moving to grip onto the blond’s moving hips. He stopped the blond when his phone rang again, frowning a little. Usually if he didn’t answer, his mother just left a message instead of calling again. He leaned across the mattress, holding Deidara in place so he could pick his phone out of his coat pocket. “Hello?” he said into it, giving Deidara’s hair a reproachful tug when he kept kissing into his neck.

“Hi, sweetheart,” came his mother’s voice. There was a forced smile in her voice that made him pause, waving his hand in front of Deidara to get him to stop. “Where are you?”

“At Deidara’s,” Itachi replied, feeling slightly wary at her tone. “What’s wrong?”

“Oh, nothing,” she said in a falsely airily tone. He could hear two car doors shut and it sounded like she was walking. He could hear Sasuke’s mumble in the background, but couldn’t make out what he said. “Why don’t you two come over here and spend the night? I’ve barely gotten to see you since you went on break.”

“You’ve seen me every day, how come I can’t stay at my friends,” came Sasuke’s clearer grumble.

“It would be nice to have a family night,” she added, ignoring him.

“Alright mom,” he said, wondering what was the matter. “We’ll be there soon.” He hung up and frowned at his phone a little. “Mom wants us to come home and stay there tonight.”

“Family Christmas?” Deidara asked, rolling off his lap to stretch his legs out. “You sure I’m invited?”

“Of course you are, don’t be stupid,” Itachi said, pulling his coat on while Deidara blew the candles out. He watched an apprehensive expression cross his face and smiled. “I figured we could say the presents are from both of us,” Itachi told him. “Remember when you helped me pick out that present for my mom last year? I never got to give it to her, so you did help with it.”

The blond flashed him a bright smile, relieved that he didn’t have to look bad for not getting them any presents after all their generosity to him. Itachi knew his mother wouldn’t care. He certainly didn’t. All he wanted was a fun holiday with Deidara and with his family and he was getting that. “Guess I should bring PJs to wear, huh?” Deidara was asking, poking through some of his clothes.

Itachi glanced back at him and cleared his throat a little. “…I have stuff you can wear,” he said, face as neutral as he could make it.

“Still like seeing me in your clothes?” Deidara smirked deviously at him.

Itachi turned and headed towards the door, trying to push the images of Deidara wearing his clothes when he visited him at school out of his mind. They’d never back to his house. “Don’t be obscure,” he told him, ignoring the blonds snickering as he shut and locked his door. 

Most of the doors in the apartments they went down were shut, but a few were open, letting Christmas music and chatter spill out into the hallways. When asked, Deidara explained that on holidays most people left their doors open so everyone could wander into each other’s parties because there wasn’t really a room big enough for all of them. A few people waved to them as they passed and they turned down their invitations to join them. At the door, Deidara handed Itachi Milkshake so he could pull on the coat Itachi had bought for him making him grin a little and they went out to Itachi’s car.

They were nearly in Itachi’s neighborhood when lights flashed behind them. Itachi frowned, checking his speed, but he was going the speed limit and hadn’t broken any driving laws, but pulled over obediently. He exchanged confused looks with Deidara, who subtly put his seatbelt on, and they waited for the officer to approach the vehicle.

“Mr. Nakaguchi,” Itachi said in surprise when he rolled down his window for him. A sudden wave of relief and apprehension clashed together in his stomach.

“Hello, Itachi,” the man said, leaning down to look in at him. His eyes passed over him to Deidara with a dark look of recognition as the blond looked back at him with a blank expression and mouth clamped shut for once. “Where you boys headed?”

“Home,” Itachi answered.

The man made a thoughtful noise, almost as if he was uncertain if he believed him or not, still staring at Deidara. “You,” he finally asserted, “step out of the car.”

Itachi turned to look at Deidara, who scowled at the man, but obeyed, placing Milkshake on the back seat. He started to get out too, but the officer instructed him to stay put. Instead, he watched with growing worry as Deidara was searched none too gently. He wanted to know what the man was saying, but wasn’t sure he could open the passenger side window without being obvious about it. Deidara’s body language was defensive, but after the search nothing seemed to happen except the officer questioned him and the blond seemed to answer, holding his phone out, but the officer shook his head and said something else before finally making a note on his pad and walking back to Itachi’s side of the car.

“You should choose your friends more carefully, Itachi,” the man said before returning to his patrol car.

The blond glared back at his back as he went before getting back into Itachi’s car, hissing scathingly.

“Are you alright?” Itachi asked quickly, looking back at the police car as it pulled away from him.

“Yeah,” the blond answered, sticking his arm into the back seat so Milkshake could sink his claws into his sleeve and haul him back. “He said was looking for drugs, asked if you paid me to entertain you tonight.”

“What?” Itachi stared. “On what grounds?”

“On grounds that he wanted to, un,” Deidara grumbled, rolling Milkshakes ear around his finger gently.

“They can’t search you with—”

Deidara’s expression made him clamp his mouth shut. “Itachi, sometimes you say the most sheltered things, un,” he told him, though it wasn’t an aggressive comment.

“Nakaguchi was my—”

“I know,” Deidara said, slouching down in his seat.

“Did he say anything else?”

“Nope,” the blond told him.

Itachi wondered if that was a lie, but didn’t comment and pulled back out into the street, driving the rest of the way to his mother’s house. Mikoto was standing by the door when they arrived. Perhaps it was the presence of his father’s old partner coupled with his mother’s phone call, but he thought she looked a little off. Even so, she ushered them in as usual, giving them both a warm hug. She waved off his question of what was wrong as she hung their coats up in the closet. There was a movie playing on the television and the fireplace in the living room was crackling merrily with Sasuke sitting in front of it roasting a marshmallow. He glanced back at them, looking thoroughly annoyed at their presence, clamping his crackers and chocolate over the blackened marshmallow.

“Ugh, you two are going to be gross all night,” he complained.

“You just keep your pants on. That’s pretty gross too you know, un,” Deidara said, dropping down next to him and snatching his s’more away from him. 

“I don’t listen,” Sasuke growled, trying to snatch the snack back, but Deidara had popped it into his mouth. “It’s just gross to think about family members…” he gave a little shudder as if to clear his mind of the thought.

Deidara gave an evil smirk. “How do you think you came into being, un?” he asked.

Itachi rolled his eyes as the two of them began bickering, though it was more the blond egging Sasuke on as his brother became more embarrassed. Turning to his mother, he caught her before she could join them in the living space. “Are you sure everything’s fine?” he asked her, concerned. “You look worried…”

“No, sweetheart, everything is fine,” she assured him, patting his arm.

“Mr. Nakaguchi pulled me over on the way here,” he said, lowering his voice a little though it was unnecessary since Deidara was laughing at his brother after stealing another one of his sandwiches. “He searched Deidara.”

Her eyes widened slightly and she looked over at the blond as he had as if reassessing his condition. “Why?” she asked.

“He said he was looking for drugs, and asked if I had paid him,” Itachi told him, jaw clenched. “Deidara said it was cause he wanted to. Last year, he got harassed by a lot of officers because of father...”

“That is troubling,” she murmured, brows creased. “Did anything else happen?”

Itachi shook his head. “He just made a comment that I should choose my friends better and left, Deidara didn’t tell me if he said anything else,” he told her.

She let out a slow exhale and closed her eyes wearily. “Well, he should be fine here,” she said, folding her arms loosely as she looked on at the two younger boys. “I’d like to just forget about that for now,” her smile returned and she placed her hand on his back to turn him towards the living room. “I hung your stockings up for tomorrow, and remember,” she added, addressing all three of them, “no one comes down after eleven, alright?”

“Yes, mom,” Sasuke said, burning another marshmallow.

“How come?” Deidara asked, waiting until Sasuke finished making his new sandwich before stealing it for a third time. Sasuke retaliated angrily by tackling him over to try and retrieve it.

“Santa, of course,” Mikoto said jokingly serious. “Tomorrow when we – don’t roll in the fire you two. Tomorrow when we come down is when you put your presents under the tree and then we open them together.”

“Oh,” Deidara said around the mouthful he shoved inside to claim for himself, smirking at the brunette on top of him. Sasuke glared and got off him, giving him another shove.

“Tell your idiot to lay off my food,” Sasuke growled at his brother.

Itachi smiled a little and reached down to drag Deidara by his arms away from his brother and up into his favorite armchair with him. “Be nice,” he chided, teasingly.

“I am,” Deidara insisted. “I’m saving him from getting any fatter and losing all his teeth, un.”

“I’m not fat,” Sasuke grumbled, making another sandwich and hurriedly moving away to sit next to his mother on the sofa to make sure Diedara wouldn’t steal his snack again. The blond just snickered and wedged himself into the stuffed chair next to Itachi, his leg draped over Itachi’s.

“You know, in Germany, we open presents on Christmas Eve,” Deidara said, quiet seriously. “We should probably do that tonight.”

“Not everyone does,” Mikoto said, smiling over at him with a small grin. “I already looked it up. Don’t make me set a trap to catch you and Sasuke sneaking down tonight.”

“I don’t sneak down,” Sasuke insisted.

“Mhmm,” she commented in disbelief, putting her arm around her youngest.

Itachi watched his mother for a moment as she looked at the fire. Something didn’t seem right to him, but knew if she didn’t want to tell him it didn’t concern him as much. Then again, perhaps it was something bad and she didn’t want to ruin the comfortable feeling in the room. The blond stretched next to him, yawning as he slumped awkwardly against Itachi and Milkshake, hopped down to stretch in front of the fire, purring loudly as Sasuke reached over to scratch his head. Forgetting his worries for his mother, he turned his head to smile at the blond.

Deidara felt his brain begin to slow down. He had never lived in a place with a fire and stuffed onto the chair with Itachi, the flames warming the room and the movie playing softly was slowly putting him to sleep. He watched Milkshakes body rise and fall in sleep and found his own breathing slowing into that space beyond wakefulness, Itachi’s fingers raked gently through his hair. He was so comfortable it was disconcerting to be jolted back into awareness by a log cracking loudly in the fire. He stared at it and he suddenly had a vivid memory come to him of another fire he had stared at, brain languid with alcohol, hands – more than one person – reaching down to touch him, pushing something in his mouth, his brain turning dizzy with drugs rushing through his system, those hands coaxing him up to play.

He sat up right suddenly, startling Itachi. He shook his own head, trying to expel the memory, not answering Itachi who asked what was wrong. He could see a concerned look crossing Itachi’s face, but he turned to look at Milkshake again. A solid, nonjudgmental object.

“We’re going to bed,” the brunette said, shifting them so he could stand up again, dragging Deidara up with him.

“Alright, dear,” Mikoto said, setting her mug of tea down and rising to give him a hug and a soft kiss on his cheek. Deidara started to follow Itachi, but was stopped by Mikoto sweeping him into the same warm and affectionate hug. “Sweet dreams,” she told him, kissing his forehead.

Wiggling out of her arms, he hurried after Itachi feeling his face heating up in embarrassment. “I’m never going to get used to that, un,” he mumbled as he and Itachi mounted the stairs, leaving Sasuke arguing that he didn’t need to go to bed yet when Mikoto suggested he go too.

Itachi smiled back at him and opened his bedroom door for him. They both waited a moment and sure enough, after a moment, there came a worried mewing from the living room and Milkshake came leaping up the stairs and into Itachi’s bedroom after Deidara. “I told you,” the brunette told him, shutting the door and locking it. “My mom practically wants to adopt you.”

“Yeah, that’s alright,” he shrugged.

“What was wrong downstairs?” Itachi asked. Deidara could hear him trying to sound gentle without being patronizing.

“Nothing,” Deidara lied, shrugging it off. He dropped his bag on the floor by the bed and rummaged in it, but Itachi gave him a prod in the back. “I just remembered something not great,” he told him, elbowing him away. “I’m fine.”

“Are you?”

Deidara shot him a glare. “I said I was fine, un,” he insisted, going to climb up into the bed. Itachi followed looking like he was trying not to look eager as he did so, crawling over top of him and kissed into his neck. The blond gave a half grin at his eagerness, feeling his hands sliding under his shirt to touch his warm skin. The ghost of his unwanted memory haunted him for a moment, but he forced the unwanted hands to turn into Itachi’s. Compartmentalizing memories was a trick he learned years ago. There were some memories that were best recorded over with lies. Itachi wouldn’t take advantage of him when he was drunk, he had tried to stop Deidara’s advances many times when he felt he was too inhibited to make a real decision.

A second pair of hands—

He sat up suddenly, startling Itachi again as the brunette slipped on the comforter and fell sideways. Deidara shook his head again as Itachi started to sit up again, concern etched on his face. When he was sure his face was in place he turned to look at him, hitching a smirk on his face. “Let’s do something different,” he said, cutting Itachi off before he could ask him what was wrong again.

“What?” Itachi asked him, still looking concerned.

Deidara grinned and swung his leg over Itachi’s lap, nudging him with his hips until Itachi was in the center of the bed, head on the pillows. There was a smile on his face, though his brows were still knotted slightly, the same way Mikoto’s was when the two of them had been talking quietly when they arrived earlier. The blond reached down and started pulling Itachi’s shirt up and over his face, but didn’t pull them all the way off. He snickered at the brunette’s muffled noise of confusion as he left him trapped in his shirt. While Itachi shifted, trying to free himself, Deidara reached into his pocket and pulled out the handcuffs he had tucked inside. Before Itachi had successfully freed himself, Deidara had his wrists locked around the headboard.

Itachi froze.

“What the fuck are you doing?” he demanded, wriggling more violently to get out of his shirt.

“Shh,” Deidara said quickly, crawling up and pulling his shirt the rest of the way off Itachi’s head, using it to put a barrier between the chain and the headboard to silence them. “Don’t make so much noise, un.”

“Let me go,” Itachi growled at him. The room was dark, but the light from the window allowed Deidara to see the glaring look on Itachi’s face. “If someone’s going to be tied up, it’s going to be you.”

“Too late,” Deidara informed him with a smirk. He leaned down to kiss him, but Itachi jerked his head away from him, insisting on being released. Shaking his head, Deidara made his way slowly down Itachi’s torso, sliding his fingers and lips over his skin, warmed from his shirt and sweater. When he reached Itachi’s pants the brunette stopped squirming and let him remove his pants, which made the blond think that he wasn’t as resistant to this as he was acting. Of course, he didn’t know his true intentions.

Dropping his pants over the side of the bed, Deidara sat up and began to slowly take his own shirt off, dropping it on the ground too then undid his belt and jeans, slowly pushing them down, but stopped before anything important showed. Itachi was watching him, despite himself.

“Keep going,” he growled, prodding him with his knee. Deidara laughed and shimmied out of his pants and crawled on top of him again, and Itachi permitted him to kiss him this time, groaning softly as their bodies pressed up against each other. He stopped kissing him back when Deidara wedged his legs between Itachi’s. “What do you think you’re doing?” he demanded.

“Something different, un.”

Itachi tried to sit up, but the cuffs kept him down. “Untie me, Deidara. I don’t,” he stopped talking when Deidara stopped moving, staring down at him concealing his amusement.

When he didn’t continue, Deidara continued to slide his fingers down his torso, making Itachi shiver a little and bite his lip. “I wont hurt you,” he murmured softly, the corners of his mouth curving a little.

“I am not a bottom,” Itachi hissed forcefully, as though he was worried about being overheard.

Deidara snorted. “Relationships aren’t defined by who is fucking who, Itachi,” he said, sitting up a little and sliding his hands down the inside of Itachi’s thigh, Itachi made a noise somewhere between a groan and a whine. He waited, watching Itachi squirm uncomfortably, giving him side eyed looks with his face turned away from him.

“It’s embarrassing,” Itachi finally grunted, glaring at him miserably.

“Oh, yes, I’m always so embarrassed,” Deidara joked, placing the back of his hand against his forehead dramatically. “A whole year and my secret’s revealed, un.”

“Shut the fuck up,” Itachi grumbled at him.

“You can roll over if you want,” Deidara told him. “I wont laugh at you, you know.”

“You laugh at everything,” the brunette grunted.

That was perfectly true. “I wont laugh at you,” he repeated, in emphasis. “I’m a trained professional, un.”

Itachi made a face at the opposite wall. Deidara gave a short sigh that was half of a chuckle. “If you want,” he continued, prodding Itachi’s stomach to get his attention. “Next time I’ll pretend it’s my first time if it makes you so uncomfortable, un,” he grinned. “I like playing.”

Itachi made a face at him, one that told Deidara he was both considering that proposal, but also knowing he would have to get through this situation first. If he did say no, Deidara would definitely not force him and have a different sort of fun with him tied up, but he was feeling rebellious to norms. To his delight, Itachi finally gave a pained sigh. “Don’t look at me,” he mumbled, shifting jerkily around so he could bury his face into his pillow.

Deidara bit into his lip hard to keep himself from laughing since he promised he wouldn’t. Itachi was so dramatic sometimes. Leaning over the side of the bed, he pulled out a bottle of lube and dumped some into his hand, sliding his fingers down between Itachi’s legs coaxing a soft groan out of him as he stroked him. He smirked happily to himself as Itachi shifted and squirmed in pleasure, even as his fingers made their way up to his entrance, ensuring he was relaxed enough to push his finger inside him. Itachi made a noise into the pillow, his body instantly locking up again. Deidara slid his free hand down Itachi’s back then around to stroke him 

“Breathe,” he instructed, watching Itachi shift uncomfortably. He blinked as he suddenly realized he hadn’t seen Itachi from this angle before except when he was changing clothes and he certainly couldn’t see the way his muscles moved when he was changing like he could right now. Deidara bit his lip to hold back a grin and a curse. He had never really been interested in people’s bodies before and now he was catching himself ogling at Itachi’s. It was nice to look at though. “You sure you’re alright?” he asked, keeping his voice low so the other house occupants wouldn’t be alerted to their activities.

“Just get it over with,” Itachi grumbled into the pillow.

He frowned and slid his hand down the back he had been admiring and pushed Itachi’s hair away so he could see him, giving his hair a little tug so his head turned. “Hey,” he scolded. “I’m not forcing you, so tell me if you don’t want to, un.”

Itachi took a moment to breathe as he’d been instructed before and glanced back at him. “I… I kinda want to,” he said. “I mean… I’m just not used to it. Feels…demeaning. And weird.”

“It feels good if you relax, un,” Deidara assured him. “If you want me to stop just tell me.” Itachi gave a nod and the blond grinned down at him. As he finally pushed into him, his hand reached down to clamp over Itachi’s mouth and nose to stifle the moan that was forced out of him, pausing to let him get used to the feeling. He made a soft shushing noise as footsteps came from out in the hallway as Sasuke and Mikoto came upstairs.

When the doors shut, he pulled his hand away a little and felt Itachi swallow. “You must hate me,” he groaned. “I never do this for you. Doesn’t it hurt?”

He opened his mouth to say his usual line that he had had much worse than this, in fact, Itachi was usually much gentler than nearly all of the people who paid him money for sex, but decided against it because Itachi always flinched unhappily when he did. “Not really,” he murmured. “It feels good.” Sure that the others had shut their doors and gone to bed, he began moving inside him, closing his eyes slightly at the heat and tightness that came every time Itachi tensed up again. The soft groans from Itachi made him want to move faster and harder, but he resisted, not wanting to hurt him. A wave of pleasure rushed over him and he gasped out a moan himself.

“W-wait,” Itachi stammered. Deidara cringed a little, but did so even though every part of him wanted to keep going. “Untie me,” the brunette gasped out. “Please.”

Holding back a disappointed groan at Itachi’s lack of interest in playing, Deidara moved to disengage the cuffs. He started to sit back to see what Itachi wanted to do when the brunette grabbed him and pulled him down to kiss him roughly, groaning deeply. “I just,” he gasped between his kiss, “want to touch you. Don’t stop.”

Deidara beamed happily and leaned down to kiss him again then moved to his neck, tasting the salt from his sweat as they shifted their bodies to adjust to the new position. Itachi stifled his groan as he pushed into him again by biting down on the meat of his neck. “You don’t have to be so gentle,” he gasped in a harsh whisper. “I know you’re trying to not hurt me, but you don’t have to be so gentle.”

The blond lifted his head to smirk down at him, licking his lips deviously at him. “Don’t be mad at me tomorrow, un,” he crooned at him.

“You’re not getting away with this,” Itachi grumbled, but it was with a bemused expression as his arms wrapped around to hold him as he began moving harder and faster, though still gentler than Itachi may have done to him. He was a bit more experienced than Itachi. A bit more than most people. They silenced their moans with kisses and bites, tangling arms and legs together until they were both exhausted and spent. Itachi gave the blond a playful shove off the bed, but chuckled as the blond crawled back up, laughing, to slide under the covers with him and hide from the world in a warm, comfortable cocoon of heavy blankets.

When morning came, Deidara blindly rolled away from the light streaming from the window, snuggling closer to the warmth on the bed next to him. His eyes cracked open, smiling happily at the dark eyes tinted with red watching him sleep. They stared at each other for quite a while, but Deidara didn’t feel the need to fidget. He wondered how long Itachi had been awake and watching him. He usually didn’t like waking up to someone staring at him, but the way Itachi was looking at him, eyes soft and content, made him feel comfortable and happy.

There was a creak outside the door that distracted Deidara entirely, breaking the moment between them. “It’s Sasuke,” Itachi said softly, stretching slightly and propped his head up on his elbow. “He’s been pacing for about thirty minutes now.”

“He’s probably wondering if it’s safe to come in, un,” Deidara replied, chuckling. “I left the door unlocked when I went to the bathroom.”

“Did you sleep well?” Itachi asked him as the blond shifted closer to tuck himself against the warm body.

“Mhmm,” he murmured. “Are you sore?”

“Just a little,” Itachi admitted, smiling a little.

“Not pissed?”

“No,” Itachi assured him, leaning down to nuzzle his nose against Deidara’s cheek. “Probably never letting you do that again, though.”

Deidara laughed aloud. “No worries,” he told him, turning slightly so he could swing his leg over Itachi’s body. Itachi automatically drew his legs up into their usual sleeping position. “I think it’s too much work and prefer to bottom, to be honest, un.”

“You’re such a lazy ass,” Itachi scolded, but he was grinning at him. “We should probably put clothes on soon. Sasuke’ll run out of patience soon.”

“Let’s leave the condom on nightstand, un,” Deidara said eagerly, but Itachi shook his head and pulled him back down before he could sit up all the way. He pouted at Itachi, who shook his head again, though he was grinning a little himself. With a disappointed sigh, he slid out from the blankets and stretched. Even though he wanted to cuddle in bed with Itachi some more, he also wanted to go downstairs for breakfast and, hopefully, Mikoto had gotten him some presents too. Ignoring the pathetic grunt that came from Itachi, he slipped into his big closet and began shifting through his clothes. Selecting a dark red plaid pajama set, he pulled them on, not bothering to adjust the size and shuffled out into the room again. “Help me,” he begged with his cutest pout.

He watched Itachi peer over at him through the tent the arm over his eyes made and saw him freeze with a sharp intake of breath. Satisfied with the reaction, he shuffled closer to the bed and held his arms out. Itachi reached out, grabbing his arms and yanking him back over the bed, tangling the two of them in the blankets. The brunette kissed him, fingers sliding down to his backside. Itachi’s love of seeing him in his own clothes was something Deidara found highly amusing. His kisses were starting to become a little less playful when Sasuke finally burst into the room.

“Will you two get out of bed already,” he demanded, throwing his slipper at the mound on the bed.

“We’re awake,” Itachi told him, lifting his head up from under the blankets.

“Awake and doing gross things to each other, un,” Deidara said, laughing.

“You two are always doing gross things,” Sasuke accused. “Have some decency!”

“Is mom awake?” Itachi asked, sitting up a little, but made sure the blankets covered his lower half. Deidara sat back up and crawled onto Itachi’s lap, throwing Sasuke’s shoe back at him.

“Sort of,” Sasuke grumbled, dodging the slipper. “She won’t let me get her coffee.”

“You do have a reputation,” Itachi said, reaching out to roll Deidara’s sleeves up so he could use his hands.

“Sneaker,” Deidara questioned, grinning deviously at Sasuke who gave a guilty grin back and raised one shoulder.

“Oh, yes,” Mikoto said, coming into the room too wearing her own pajamas and a warm blue dressing gown with white birds on the sleeves. She wrapped her arm around Sasuke and planted a kiss on his temple, carefully holding her coffee mug as she did. “Get dressed Itachi so you two can come down. We’ll make breakfast and open presents.”

It was a wonderful day and it showed in his step as he walked home from Itachi’s house the next afternoon. The winter air bit at his cheeks, but it barely affected him. He was too full of homemade hot chocolate, pancakes, sausages, ham, eggs, cranberry scones from yesterday’s breakfast and even bigger dinner of chicken, ham, potatoes, glazed carrots and more. In his pockets, he carried a bag of sausages for Milkshake and other collection of left overs for himself. Slung over his arm was a large bag of presents from the Uchihas. He had been sitting on the sofa with Itachi when he noticed that there was a fourth set of colored packages under the tree. Mikoto color coded the gifts to keep any confusion aside – Itachi’s was red plaid, Sasuke’s was blue, her own red with white stars. And next to them was a pile wrapped in green and gold, just as big as the two Uchiha boys’. Deidara was speechless and a little ashamed of his own lack of presents to give to them, but Itachi shared the presents he had bought and Deidara had helped pick out, announcing that they were from both of them.

He now carried a new mp3 player and headphones, a DS with several different games, a cheki camera with extra film, new clothes and toys for Milkshake. Around his neck was a new necklace – a long, simple chain with a small pendant hanging from it. Itachi had presented it to him after everyone had finished opening their presents before going to breakfast. It was the type of pendant he could fidget with without damaging it. Itachi had picked it out especially for him. Deidara thought his face might break from smiling too much.

He hadn’t really wanted to go home, but he had received a text from Daichi requesting his presence at the garage. It had been so long since he had received a text from Daichi that he felt he had to go, but told Itachi he didn’t need to drive him. He was so happy, he thought a walk might not be so bad. The bags were heavy though and he began to regret the decision when the sidewalks became more cracked and the buildings less cared for.

“Merry Christmas!” he shouted unnecessarily into the garage as he entered, smirking at the eyes that stared jealously at his big bags. Milkshake chirped happily as he crawled out of Deidara’s hoodie to stare around his favorite play area. Deidara placed him down on the ground and went to the bunk area to climb up and hide his presents in his bed. When he was satisfied, he climbed back down to look for Daichi, but the mechanic had come to find him.

“Merry Christmas,” Daichi said. “Get me anything?”

“No,” Deidara said, he never got Daichi anything. “I got Suki something though, un. Get me anything?”

He said it jokingly, but was surprised when Daichi smirked and dropped an envelope in his hand. It was one of the envelopes Daichi gave out their pay in, something he hadn’t seen in a long time because he wasn’t working. It was heavier than Deidara had ever felt and he stared in shock and alarm at Daichi, but the mechanic narrowed his eyes at him, silently telling him to keep his mouth shut about it. “I’m sorry about the last few months,” he told him.

“What?” Deidara demanded suspiciously, feeling the same confusion he had the last time Daichi had apologized.

“Good deeds count for double on Christmas. I’m making up for the year,” he told him, clapping a hand on Deidara’s shoulder. “I am sorry. Itachi was right.”

“He never told me what he said,” Deidara said a little apprehensively.

“Just knocked some sense into me,” Daichi told him with a half grin. “I am proud of you for all you’re doing. I saw your midterm report card, too.”

Feeling a little uncomfortable with the uncharacteristic words from Daichi, he gave a one shouldered shrug and stuffed the envelope with what felt like several months’ worth of pay inside into his pocket. “Yeah, well,” he mumbled. “What did you need me for, un?”

“I needed to talk to you,” he told him, the light expression slipping from his face. He motioned for him to follow him into his office, closing the door behind the two of them as Deidara dropped into one of the chairs. Daichi stood by his desk a moment, looking as serious as the day he had told Deidara that Rin was pregnant again. “You need to lay low, Dei.”

“Uh, what?” Deidara asked, confused. He hadn’t been around anyone in months, hadn’t that been laying low?

“I found out yesterday that Uchiha might get reconsidered for an early release,” Daichi told him, finally sitting down on his desk. “Possibly as early as January.”

“Mikoto’s got a restraining order on him,” Deidara informed him brushing off his concern with a wave of his hand.

“Not for you,” Daichi reminded him, leaning forward to rest his arms on the desk. “You’re the one that got him locked up in the first place.”

Deidara smirked. “I’m not scared of Uchiha.”

“You should be,” Daichi said darkly. “He hated you before, but he just wanted you locked up. He wants you dead now.”

Snorting softly in amusement, Deidara leaned back against the seat and let his eyes travel around the room for something he didn’t know what. His eyes alighted on a picture of Suki and Rin on the desk. Nothing Daichi could say would make him worry. Mikoto’s lawyer must have told her and that’s why they’d been called back to the house in such a hurry. Itachi was safe, so was Sasuke. Uchiha wasn’t allowed to come anywhere near either of them. Wasn’t allowed to contact them either. If Uchiha did come after him… well he’d been trying to do that for years and never succeeded, hadn’t he? He thought about Uchiha’s old partner pulling them over the night before. ‘You’ll get what you deserve soon enough’, the man had threatened when he was patting him down. He had scoffed at the thought, but hadn’t told Itachi because he’d worry. It made sense.

Daichi’s cellphone rang, startling him out of his thoughts. The mechanic answered it, speaking quietly to the caller before nodding to no one and hanging up. “He’s paying off the judge and jury,” he told Deidara. “He’s getting out the first week of January.”


	26. Chapter 26

Despite Daichi’s warning and Itachi’s later worried call after Mikoto finally told him, absolutely nothing happened that could point towards the threatened revenge. Break over, Itachi returned to school after begging the blond to be careful – perhaps stay at his mother’s house. Now that Daichi had forgiven him, though, the mechanic had invited him back to work, giving him commissions for paint jobs that paid more than just fixing the cars. Once again, he was unable to visit Itachi at his school due to his work schedule, but this time, the Uchiha made sure he could come down on weekends to spend time with the blond. Up until school began for the blond, he was happily working at the garage and racing for the mechanic. After school started, his final term before he was free, he went back to only working after school. To his utter horror, Daichi made him take part in the college entrance exams with a variety of bribes and threats just to see how he was doing. He did it, complaining loudly, but was pleased when he got to show off his score to anyone who would sit still long enough. Daichi and Itachi were both shot down when they commented about the Universities he could get into with the score he received, the blond laughing himself silly.

The second half of the school year passed much easier than the first half, though he had been having the worst up and down feelings ever. He was so close to be finished with high school forever, exams seemed to approach too quickly, but the days stretched far too long. It was difficult to see the point in continuing to go to school when he already knew his grades were high enough to graduate. Worst of all, Daichi was forcing him to go to the actual graduation ceremony. Deidara tried to weasel his way out of it, claiming he couldn’t afford the fee for the cap and gown and what was the point, but Rin, beaming evilly, had produced the receipt that showed the two of them had gone behind his back and paid for the ceremony uniform for him so he couldn’t turn them down.

A whole year ago, he had been to this event and he had not enjoyed it. And that time he had been watching Itachi walk across the stage, watching Itachi give his speech. A whole year ago, he had been on the verge of failing high school. Not because he wasn’t smart, but because he didn’t like it. He didn’t like teachers, he didn’t like sports, he didn’t like cliques, and compared to the drama and trauma on the streets, the drama of high school seemed childish. No one liked him either for the most part. No one thought he was smart enough for school. Too drugged up, fucked up and lazy. It was hard to believe that all it took to kick his butt in gear was a boring, stoic senior and the promise of a vehicle of his choice for his very own – no strings attached. There was also the matter of taking college courses in that deal, but Itachi had never exactly said when he had to take them.

Deidara was happy his last name was near the beginning of the long list of graduates for his class. He might have finished with grades that no one expected – second in his graduating class, but that didn’t mean he wanted to stay in this formal, ugly-as-shit dress and hat they made everyone wear for longer than he absolutely had to. The principal had even offered Deidara a position to speak, much like Itachi had last ear. He had flatly refused. Him? Give a speech about high school and his achievements? What achievements?

Yeah, fuckers, the secret to my success was a bribe from my rich, hot, sex buddy.

He didn’t think that would fly with the school board, but that had been the thought running through his head when the man offered it to him, eyes shining as he looked down at him like a prodigal son. It was just indecent.

So what? He had gone from the lowest grade in the whole school to one of the top for students in his graduating class. No big deal. He had just done all his work and slipped in a million extra credits. Yay? Now he had to walk across the stage in front of thousands of people to get a slip of paper that said he was smart. Who cares about that? Didn’t they give him enough papers with grades and reports on them all year that told him so already?

As he stood in line, fidgeting irritably, his eyes scanned the crowd. His hot sexy buddy – oh sorry, his boyfriend. A whole year together and he was still having trouble saying it in a sentence. It was just that strange to him. Itachi couldn’t make it to his graduation. Actually, Deidara hadn’t even told him when it was. He hadn’t told anyone when it was, and he was the only person who worked for Daichi that was in his grade so he hoped that the information would remain a secret, but someone had leaked it and Itachi was upset he had found out too late to set time aside. Unfortunately, Daichi and Rin were among those the information got leaked to, and he quickly spotted Daichi’s blue hair in the crowd, sitting with Suki on his lap, Rin on one side, Mikoto and Sasuke on the other, sitting in the middle of a large group of people he had not wanted to see. It looked like everyone from the garage and the races had come. Mikoto was already filming the entire thing, so was Sakaya, who smirked when she saw him looking at her. He had a feeling she was live streaming the whole thing.

He cursed quietly and the person behind him gave him a nudge to be silent.

He needed a goddamn cigarette.

The person in front of him stepped forward as his name was called, soon it would be over, but he’d been so irritable about the whole thing he had worked himself up to a tantrum. All these people were here to embarrass him with merciless teasing – except perhaps Mikoto – and he wasn’t going to have it.

“…someone who has… simply astounded everyone with his achievements in the last two years, someone I personally never thought to have the honor of introducing onto this stage Deida—”

The principal’s announcement and the crowds applause diminished as Deidara stomped onto the stage. Not beaming in pleasure and embarrassment as the other students had. Not stepping with a lively bounce as the other students had, so happy to have succeeded in the mediocre task of graduating high school. He was stomping and he was scowling. Who in their right mind wouldn’t be? Who wanted to celebrate something like graduating high school? What did that really mean? It meant you were booted out into the real world where people didn’t care that you were cool or popular or how smart or your attendance record. They cared about how well you could adapt to the real world, who better had done that than himself and high school had played a very minimal role in that. The real world didn’t care that you passed math by being smart or cheating. All that studying for a piece of paper that let the world know you were either a brown-noser or highly skilled at cheating.

“C-congratulations, Deidara,” the principal said as the quietly raging blond approached him. “I’m very proud of you.”

“Whatever,” Deidara snapped as he snatched the diploma and started to walk off. He paused. A debate raged in his head for a moment, to keep his tantrum in, or let it spill out. The podium with the mic was right there.

And when had he ever kept his tantrum in?

He changed course and nudged the principal hard and out of the way of the mic.

“Hi,” his voice echoed in the dead silence of the auditorium. “When the school was preparing for this night with the full intention of boring you to death,” a few scattered chuckles in the audience, “they asked me to give a speech on my achievements and my time at school. Since anyone who’s ever met me knows I’m not a fucking brownnoser like this guy,” he gestured back to where the appointed valedictorian sat with the teachers, bristling slightly at the insult, “I turned it down. Buuuut, I changed my mind.” Out in the audience, he could see several confused faces, several horrified faces, but most looked incredibly amused. Daichi working hard to try and keep his face neutral, Rin’s hand was hiding a grin and Sasuke was smirking openly.

“Look. High school is dumb as fuck—”

“Deidara, don’t swear—”

“As FUCK,” he repeated louder to drown out the principal’s protests. “Period. I don’t know why you all are so damn proud of your kids. I’ve made it obvious this past year that I was the worst student in the school by choice, obviously it’s not difficult to succeed in high school. Congratulations on my graduating class for doing the bare minimum in life.” Daichi bit down on his knuckles, Rin’s shoulders were shaking. “Of course, it might just be the school you’ve been sending your kids school fucking sucks, un. Actually, lots of people have asked me how I managed not to get kicked out of middle school and again in high school. I was literally the worst student in this shit hole and I finished in the number 2 spot, un. I bequeath you with me secret, since I’m now leaving: blackmail, people. Plain and simple. Actually there’s another secret I don’t have to keep anymore—”

“Deidara, thank you, that is enough,” the principal interrupted, trying to push him away from the podium. “You turned down the position to speak, we have to continu—”

“The principal is a pedophile and will let shit slide for a headjob,” Deidara shouted into the mic before the principal could stop him. He smirked at his fellow graduating students staring in horror at him. “Think how little stress you could have had if you sucked dick as well as I did, un.” Oh, the horrified roar from the crowd, the shouting, the cries of ‘what’, the woman who screamed the principals name in rage. “Freedom!” Deidara sang, giving a dramatic bow to the crowd, his friends laughing hysterically now and stalked off stage.

When he was out of sight, he pushed through the door to the hallway instead of returning to his seat, ready to sneak out. There was no way he was sitting through the rest of the ceremony. He took his green phone out of his pocket and gave the camera the middle finger with this tongue sticking out to send Itachi a less formal version of the senior picture Itachi had gotten of him. He headed towards the outer doors, sending the picture to Itachi without looking to see if anyone else was in the hallway as well.

“You always did know how to make an exit, but I never thought of you as a motivational speaker.”

Deidara whirled around in search of the voice, spotting the owner quickly and smirked. “Nor such a model student, huh, Sassypants,” he said, striking a pose at the redhead leaning against the wall.

“Don’t call me that,” Sasori scowled at him, pushing off the wall to walk towards him.

“When did you get back?” the blond asked, throwing his body against the door to open it for them.

“Today,” the redhead said, blandly.

Deidara made a gesture to imitate being touched. “Just to see me graduate?” he asked.

Sasori’s expression didn’t change, he just raised and dropped a shoulder. “It did seem unlikely,” he said as they walked. “Did you get hit in the head? Or just wanted to for the hell of it?”

Shrugging, Deidara pulled the robe and hat off and stuffed them unceremoniously into Daichi’s car, taking his bag from the back seat. “Who knows,” he dodged. “How was your research trip?”

A slow, half sneer appeared on Sasori’s face as he stared him down. “You don’t care about that,” Sasori stated. “I don’t like small talk. Where is your hideous date tonight?”

“I only came with Daichi, un,” Deidara told him, heading over to Sasori’s huge, army like car, so easy to spot in the parking lot. Overcompensating, he assumed.

“Really?” Sasori inquired, almost absentmindedly, but Deidara recognized curiosity in his voice. “How do you expect to fund your atrocious habits without needy old men.”

“Don’t be jealous, Sasori, you’re the only important needy old man in my life, un,” Deidara smirked as he took his phone out and snapped a picture of Sasori’s scowling face. “I came alone because I didn’t tell my boyfriend when my graduation was, un.”

“I suppose you’re sending him my picture to make him jealous,” Sasori grumbled as he climbed into his car, Deidara following him.

Deidara smirked, propping his feet up on the dashboard until Sasori smacked them down. “Itachi’s not the jealous type,” he told him. “I just wanted him to know who my oldest friend was. Old meaning age, not just how long I’ve known you, un.”

Sasori glowered again. “I am not as old as Daichi,” he corrected him.

“So you claim,” the blond said vaguely, leaning back in his seat as Sasori pulled out onto the street. He didn’t actually know how old the redhead was since the man seemed blessed with anti-aging genes. 

His phone jingled in his hand as Itachi replied back with a text, ‘Who is that?’. 

Deidara grinned, ‘hes a grouchy old man who thinks hes better than evryone’. 

‘So he is an older, but younger looking version of you.’ 

‘lol stfu hes a friend whos a doctor’

“Stop telling him things,” Sasori snapped, glancing sideways at him.

Deidara gave him a irritable side eye and obediently put his phone away. “Where are we going, un?”

“My house. You’re due for a checkup.”

“Aw, you’re worried about me?” Deidara grinned, touching a finger to his chin.

Sasori huffed out a scoff. “No, you are entertaining to poke,” he informed him, pulling out of the city to travel out into the more expensive neighborhoods. They were silent as they drove, finally approaching a large house, lined with trees, protecting the house from outside view. Deidara hadn’t been to the house in a few years, avoiding it when it’s occupant was away. The yard was still full of raised gardens with well-tended plants and flowers, he never saw them, but supposed that Sasori hired people to take care of them when he was away.

Sasori unlocked the front door and let him in. “Take your shoes of bef—hey!” he glared at Deidara who had walked all over the marble foyer in his outdoor stained shoes. The blond gave him an innocent expression then kicked his shoes off and slipped deeper into the house on his way to the kitchen. A glance back showed Deidara that the redhead was just shaking his head and following him.

“Don’t—”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Don’t touch anything,” Deidara said, rolling his eyes and opening the fridge. It was empty. He scowled unhappily and went into the attached sitting room to drop onto the sofa. “So you really did just get back, un? Came all the way from some remote, unheard of town in North Korea studying the cure for aids or something just to see me graduate?”

Sasori glowered at him, sitting down on a chair as rigidly as though it were made of wood and not plump with stuffing. “I am not studying aids. And I wasn’t in North Korea,” he stated, but didn’t elaborate. Sasori had a tendency to converse in statements which allowed him to quickly end any conversation he didn’t want to be in. Deidara was used to it.

“So you came all the way from some remote, unheard of town in India to see me graduate?” he asked, undaunted.

“I was not in India,” Sasori stated back. He continued to stare without giving any indication that he understood that a normal person would have simply answered the unasked question. Deidara opened his mouth to obnoxiously repeat the statement again with another possible location when Sasori cut him off. “I am surprised you are not dead yet,” he said, though he didn’t look very surprised.

“Resilient as ever, un,” Deidara smirked, tucking his hands behind his head.

“With your atrocious habits,” Sasori continued as though he hadn’t said anything, “and your erratic behavior. I don’t have anything to give you, so don’t try to weasel something out of me for free.”

“I haven’t touched anything in seven months, un,” Deidara told him smugly. He was pleased to see a look of actual surprise cross Sasori’s face. It was so hard to surprise the redhead. The expression turned suspicious, so Deidara held out his arm. “It’s true. You can test me, un,” he told him.

Those staring honey brown eyes narrowed slightly, his head tilting almost mechanically to the side as he observed him. His face was a blank as a doll. Sasori Akasuna’s face hadn’t changed since Deidara was a child. They had met when he was still living with his parents, going to family parties dressed as a girl to hide his mother’s unhappiness from the others. Wanting to please her, he played along like it was a game. He played with his cousins, who believed he was a girl too, but Sasori had seen through his game. Maybe it was because he was a doctor, or maybe the staring eyes saw more than normal people did. When Deidara had accidentally ran into him, Sasori had told him off, calling him a boy. Deidara had stared back at him, wondering how this stranger could see through his clothes and his hair. Their relationship hadn’t started out well. Deidara had kicked Sasori in the shins as hard as he could and bolted under the tables, grinning at the pained threats that followed him. The next year, they met again. His father had brought the young doctor to him, instructing Deidara to allow Sasori to examine him. He was a friend of the family.

His parents had left him alone with Sasori and he obediently let himself be examined. While the redhead was listening to his lungs, he asked how his leg was.

“You’ll have to kick harder than that if you want to leave an impression,” Sasori had told him coolly.

“You’re not a family friend. Did they give you money, un?” Deidara asked, eyeing Sasori in a similar way that Sasori was now eyeing himself.

“They did,” Sasori finally answered, sitting back in his chair with his arms folded. “They don’t want anyone else to know you’re a boy.”

“I know,” Deidara said, shrugging. “What’s the money for?”

“I study diseases and poisons,” Sasori informed him. “Antidotes and cures. I think your family is also interested in one of my papers on anti-aging procedures.”

“So you’re like a supervillain, un?” Deidara asked, reaching out to touch the started man’s face. He seemed not used to being touched and started to lean away, but Deidara grinned and clapped his hands on both cheeks. “That’s alright, I wont tell anyone, un!”

Sasori had taken more of a liking to him than the rest of his family and continued to act as his doctor even after Deidara had been abandoned by his family. Sasori never seemed to age and Deidara had never been able to find out how old he was.

The redhead was staring at him the same way he had then, finally concluding that he was unable to answer his own questions without voicing them. “What brought this on?” he inquired, his arms folding.

Deidara grinned mischievously at him and shrugged as if he hadn’t a clue, but he knew Sasori wasn’t convinced, but he wasn’t going to give him anything. Sasori dined on information and Deidara wasn’t going to give it away willingly. He wasn’t going to sell Itachi out to Sasori. In addition, Sasori would think the whole thing was stupid and would probably figure out how to use it to Deidara’s disadvantage.

Even so, Sasori didn’t press, not wanting to appear curious. The rest of the night was spent with a series of tests on him to see if he was still healthy. He was pleased at being able to shock Sasori twice in one night when his first few basic tests showed that he was drug free. It took a lot to startle the redhead. A miracle to startle him twice. Knowing Sasori preferred to work in complete silence, Deidara launched into an endless stream of talk about school and races and the cars Daichi had won. Annoyed, but accepting that he would be unable to stop Deidara from talking, Sasori replied with small nods and murmurs, every so often asking a question as though trying to figure out what Deidara was hiding from him. He was there for hours, but since Sasori’s lab was in his basement, he had no idea what time it was. He slept for several minutes at a time. Sasori didn’t mind, continuing about his business and waking him up when he stuck him with another needle.

“You need to be careful,” Sasori stated, hours later as he peered under a microscope.

He rubbed his eyes and stretched, rolling onto his side so he could look at him. “Yes, Mom. You know you tell me that every time—”

Sasori gave him the curtesy of lifting his head up to give him a condescending look. “Uchiha is out of prison.”

“Duh,” Deidara said, rolling his eyes. “I was at the court house for Daichi when the judge officially announced it, un.”

“You’re a fool,” Sasori informed him. “He’s going to do something soon.”

“It’s been months,” Deidara waved him off. “It’s made this year pretty dull so far, un… just waiting.”

“He wont wait much longer.”

“Sasori-danna,” Deidara sat up, grinning at the involuntary twitch Sasori gave at the addon to his name. “It’s been almost five months, un. I can take care of myself. You don’t have to panic every time you think your test subject is going to run out. I’m sure you’ll find another one just as quickly as you found me, un.”

“Too much trouble,” Sasori stated, turning back to his papers. “Just be cautious. I’m finished here. I will see you in a few days.”

“Okidok,” Deidara said, tugging his shirt back on and headed for the stairs.

“Why?” Sasori finally demanded, giving him a look that looked almost childishly indignant. “Tell me.”

Deidara gave him a devious smirk and took another picture with his phone and rushed up the stairs before Sasori could throw something sharp at him. Itachi would be a secret. He didn’t need to hear Sasori taunt him for having a boyfriend, his desire to meet Itachi for some psychological testing.

Stuffing his feet into his shoes, he stepped out of Sasori’s house and hurried down the street to get away of the secret filled house and deadly garden. When he was four streets away, he looked down at his phone again. There was several notifications waiting for him on both phones. Sasori’s basement didn’t have reception. He opened Daichi’s message first, asking where he was and if he wanted to go driving. He replied apologetically, telling him he had been with Sasori. Next he opened Itachi’s messages.

‘You should have told me there was a live streaming of your graduation.’

‘I’m watching the video now.’

‘You look so mad.’

‘Deidara’

‘What the fuck, Deidara?!’

‘You are insane!’

Missed call.

‘Where are you? What the hell?’

‘Please call me back.’

Deidara chuckled happily to himself, picturing Itachi watching the ceremony. He called a favor to come pick him up and bring him back to the apartment, then called Itachi. It was early in the morning, but Itachi would be awake. He was such a weirdo.

“Where have you been?” Itachi’s voice sounded worried, not giving him a good morning as he usually did. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’ve been at Sasori’s house, un,” Deidara told him, sitting down on the curb. “Sorry, I forgot his house doesn’t have reception. He was making sure I’m healthy and not riddled with incurable diseases, un.”

“…Oh, that’s good, I suppose,” Itachi said. “…I watched the recording of the ceremony.”

“I saw,” Deidara responded, smirking. “I think I have a future in motivational speaking.”

Itachi made a noise that sounded like he was holding back a groan. “Is… it…”

“Oh yeah, totally true,” Deidara smirked a little. “I never tell lies.” There was silence on the other end and his smile lessoned a little, knowing Itachi was a little upset, thinking of the struggles of his life. “Not a recent truth, anyway,” he added.

“Still,” Itachi said quietly, then heaved a sigh. “Well, I’m glad you outed him at least. Have you been awake all night?”

“Yeah, my friend’s coming to take him home, un.”

“Good, I hope you have a good sleep,” Itachi said, a smile in his voice. “You deserve a good sleep after all that work this year.”

“Damn right,” Deidara said with a smirk. “I’ll call you later. Or… maybe I’ll come visit you this weekend?” he added hopefully.

“We’ll see,” Itachi said. “Sleep well.”

He didn’t go straight to sleep, though he wanted to. He stopped at Daichi’s to retrieve his bag that had been left in Daichi’s car and work was halted for the day because Daichi and Rin were so pleased for him they wanted to have a small congratulatory party of pizza and ice cream. His birthday had recently passed, but he received a few more presents to his utter delight. He wondered if he should go to college just to impress everyone enough to give him presents for no reason again.

When Rin left to return to the apartment, he could finally excuse himself to exhaustedly crawl up into his bunk to hide his new presents and flopped face first on his bed to sleep. Milkshake chirped at him as the creature stretched against him and he obediently reached down to rub his tiny head. It was no good. He was so tired the noise in the garage was keeping him awake. He heaved a sigh at sat up.

“Let’s go home,” he suggested to the kitten. He scooped up the cat and pulled his hoodie back on. After making sure his phones were in his bag and his presents were properly shut away in the cupboard behind his pillow, he climbed down the bunks and slipped out of the garage. No one stopped him.

The sun was setting, the air warm with the beginning of summer. He yawned hugely and dragged his feet in the direction of the apartment. He couldn’t wait to fall into bed. After taking a short cut over the fences of a train track and walking down the street to the apartment, he noticed an unmarked police car following him. He stopped, reaching up to remove Milkshake from his shoulder in case he had to run. At the next crossroad, he turned to look at the car, glaring at it. The windows were darkly tinted and he couldn’t see through them, but something about the shadows made him think there was more than one person in the car following him.

This could be bad; he didn’t want to deal with vindictive police officers today. Resolutely giving them his back, he crossed the street and stalked the whole way to the apartment where Rin was making chalk drawings on the side walk with a few of the small children under the light of the street lamp Deidara had often fantasized about destroying because it shown in his window. She waved at him, adjusting Suki strapped to her back, and asked if he wanted to draw with them.

The police car continued passed, unnoticed by her or the children. “Nah, I just came home to sleep,” he told her, setting the kitten back on his shoulder. “Too noisy at the garage, un.”

She nodded in understanding, smiling down at one of the younger boys who wanted to show he how he wrote his own name with the chalk. He went inside and climbed the stairs. It had been a while since he had stayed here, having been sleeping and studying in the garage or at the Uchiha house. Being free from school was a wonderful prospect for tomorrow and after dropping Milkshake gently on the ground, he went to his bed and threw himself down on it and pulled his phones out to charge. Without even bothering to undress, he pulled his sheet over his head and buried his face in his pillow. Milkshake bounced over to crawl up into the curve of his neck under his chin to sleep with him.

It was still dark out when he opened his eyes again. The street lamp cast a dim yellow light in his room through the grimy window. He wondered what woke him up. He reached for the green phone Itachi had given to him and looked at the screen. It was 3:14AM. Groaning irritably, he flipped off the window and rolled over to pull the sheets over his head to block out the light. Hard as he tried, sleep wouldn’t come to him. Something didn’t feel right. Milkshake wasn’t on his bed anymore. With a heavy sigh, he kicked off the blankets and stood up to go smoke a cigarette.

The sidewalk was empty and, looking straight down, he could see some of the chalk drawings done by the children. He grabbed his bag to find his cigarettes and as he stood up, movement outside caught his eye. The undercover police car was there. It had been parked across the street and the doors closing had been what caught his attention. He frowned.

Putting his cigarettes back into his bag, he stuffed his phone in his pocket and went to the door to see if anyone else was awake.

It was then he spotted Milkshake in the corner of his room. “Hey,” he said, crouching down to reach for the kitten, pausing when he noticed the kitten’s fur standing on end, making himself look twice as big as normal. Sliding his hand carefully underneath the shaking cat, he picked him up and scratched his chin. “What’s wrong?”

As he started for the door, Milkshake let out a yowl and clawed his way up to hide hood of his jacket. Deidara could feel him trembling, but could see what was wrong until he opened the door. Smoke choked him as the pull of the door sucked it into the room. Ducking low to avoid it, he saw the floors below were licked with flames, crackling angrily with cruel hunger. Terror held him for a few very long seconds before he launched himself down the stairs.

“Fire!” he screamed as loud as he could, landing on the next floor, calling out names as he banged on their doors passing them, trying to wake them up. The third floor stairs were ablaze, the windows on the landing were broken as if something had been thrown through them. Rin was on the second floor where the fire was catching fast. Leaping over the railing, he landing on the second floor and used his momentum to slam his shoulder into the door, breaking it down. Rin startled from her bed, staring at him as he sprinted to the crib.

“What are you doing?” she demanded, as he lifted the sleeping baby in his arms, wrapping her up in the pink blanket.

“The building’s on fire, un!” Deidara said, throwing her coat on the bed to pull over her nightgown and went to the door. “We have to get out, now!”

Rin hurriedly pulled on the coat and stuffed the few special pieces of jewelry she had here and followed him to the door. Holding the fussing baby carefully against him, Deidara put his arm around her waist to guide her down the burning stairs, squinting through the smoke. With Daichi’s line of work, he always made sure there were secret exits, escape routes in case of danger. The garage was littered with them, the apartment not as much. There were ways out if you were on the roof, and a special tunnel dug to connect the building to the water system that ran under the building. Smoke stung his eyes as he hurried into the children’s play room and kicked aside a desk to get to the hatch.

“Wait!” Rin cried, gripping his shoulder. “The children are upstairs.”

Deidara set his jaw and braced himself for her anger, holding onto her tight to keep her from bolting back into the building and pushed her down into the tunnel. She grabbed onto the handrails to keep from falling and he followed after her, forcing her climb down or fall. He pulled the door shut, plunging them in darkness. He was slow climbing, holding Suki in one arm. When he reached the bottom, he reached his hand back to make sure the kitten was still there. The tiny figure trembled in terror, tiny claws dug deep in his hoodie. He sighed in relief.

“Deidara! Deidara! How could you?!” Rin screamed, her voice echoing in the dark. “How could you?! The babies are up there! The younger children! Why didn’t you get them? GO up and get them out!” she was gripping his shirt, shaking him. He felt one hand leave his sleeve and felt, rather than saw her waving her hand around blindly looking for the handrails to go back up.

Deidara didn’t respond. He knew that logically, it would have been impossible to get anyone out right now. He had acted without thinking, throwing himself down the stairs to rescue those in the building her cared for most. He had banged on doors. Hopefully the others had heard him and gotten others out too. There was a rumble above their head. They had to move. The building could collapse down on them. Maybe. He never thought about how strong the concrete of the underground water ways were. His boots soaked from standing in the water. Rin’s feet were bare. Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he turned the flashlight on and took Rin’s arm, hauling her away from the handrails and deeper into the tunnels. When they came to a metal ladder, it’s rungs jutting out from the cement walls, Deidara stuck his phone in his pocket and began to climb. Rin obediently followed, crying as she climbed. He handed Suki down to her so he could brace himself against the manhole and push up into the streets.

The silence of the water way was interrupted by the raging noise above.

The building was ablaze, licking out of windows and up to the higher floors. Deidara’s room was gone. Wailing firetrucks blocked the streets, several men at a time were holding down hoses that tried their best to tame the flames. The front door was broken into, firemen were running in trying to save the people inside. Strangers were standing around watching, keeping out of the firemen’s way. It looked so hopeless.

In the overwhelming din, Deidara saw a familiar Mustang pulling up along with several other cars. Daichi got out of the car in a panic the blond had never seen before. Several people rushed to catch onto the mechanic, stopping him from running in himself. He threatened and cursed them, fighting to get into the building. A fireman rushed out, holding two small children, and their parents rushed from Daichi’s group, screaming their names in fear of what may meet them.

“Daichi!” Rin called out, rushing towards the cars.

Dark eyes swerved to find the voice, spotting her approaching and threw off the others. Daichi flew to meet her, pulling her into his arms. Tears of relief streamed down his face. Another moment of panic came to his face until he saw the baby in her arms. He cradled his daughter carefully, making sure she was alright, but her piercing cries of fear brought more relief as he hugged them both tightly. Urging from the others finally got them to move and get back in the car. The police were arriving and not all of them were safe to stay at the scene.

A few hours later, the fire was on the news. The fire department was claiming arson – well, duh, many watching commented, though the reporter continued on the screen. There were reports that a suspected arsonist was living in the building as well, but so far had not been found and the police were searching for him. Four people had escaped unharmed – two adults and two children. Another five had been rushed to the hospital and, so far, three bodies had been pulled from the building. Two of young children and one of a teenager. Tears fell among the watchers as the man continued that the building had been a halfway house and a foster home for young people. A place to keep them off the streets, a place to start fresh. There was no telling how many had been in the building to begin with, so the death count was still uncertain. Five of the people had so far been identified by the local police and were subject to arrest when their injuries were treated.

The reporter may not have known, but the watchers in Daichi’s garage knew. There had been twenty-one in the building that night, including Rin, Suki and Deidara. Six were unaccounted for. Four of them were children younger than ten. Two of them, toddlers, children of workers in the garage. Most of them had been on the fourth and fifth floor and everyone was sure they were dead. Rin sobbed against Daichi, verbally blaming Deidara for their deaths. He shouldn’t have wasted time saving her when there were others that he could have helped. Daichi didn’t say anything, silently disagreeing with her, quite happy that the blond had made sure his wife and daughter were safe. But the mention of the blond startled them with sudden realization.

Deidara was nowhere to be found.


	27. Chapter 27

Tying his hair back into its usual low pony tail, Itachi pulled up short in surprise as he stepped out of the bathroom to see Deidara sitting up in his bed. Not used to seeing the blond functioning before noon, he asked worriedly if something was wrong. Was he okay? Did he feel sick? Have a bad dream? Deidara just smiled sleepily and shook his head. Half awake, he leaned against Itachi when he came to give him a kiss, and let Itachi tuck him back under the covers. It was starting to be a pattern between them in the last week. Not that Itachi would complain. Deidara had arrived last Saturday at eight in the morning, just as Itachi was getting ready to leave for the gym. Itachi had been extremely worried, but Deidara had brushed him off, telling him he was a free man now that he had no school and wanted to spend time with him. Itachi was still in school, but Deidara didn’t seem to have any inclination of leaving and was not bothered that he had to stay in Itachi’s dorm. It was nice to have the blond around again, but Itachi couldn’t shake off the feeling that something was wrong.

It was Wednesday, two days ago, that Itachi finally learned what was wrong. Daichi had text him, asking him to call him when he was out of class and alone. He heard about the fire, about the deaths of the children and how Deidara was being blamed for both. Fugaku had, prior to his arrest, been trying to pin Deidara for arson for years, but never caught him at anything. Daichi hadn’t seen Deidara come out of the fire and he wasn’t counted among the dead, but Rin had told him the blond had brought her out of the fire. He hadn’t been able to find Deidara since that night and the blond wasn’t answering his phone.

“Mikoto hadn’t seen him either,” Daichi continued, after Itachi had assured him the blond was with him, and well. “It occurred to me this morning he might have slipped off to hide with you. I just wanted to make sure he was alive. The cops think Deidara did it, but…” his voice trailed off in an ominous manner that made Itachi shiver. “He’ll be pissed off if he thinks you’re worried about him – if he hadn’t told you about what happened, so don’t tell him I called you. I’m just worried Uchiha will do something to get to him there too.”

He had tried his best not to let Deidara on that he knew why the blond really was there. Deidara wouldn’t have set fire to his own home, not with Rin, Suki and the others in the building too. He didn’t need Daichi’s warning to guess an alternate possibility. His father was high on the list of people who may have had something to do with it, especially since the police had been so quick to jump to Deidara as a suspect. His father’s ex-partner’s warning seemed to hold greater weight now. If the blond was worried, he wasn’t showing it, but then again, Deidara was rarely worried about anything. Fugaku couldn’t come for Deidara while he was near Itachi, since Mikoto’s restraining order stated his father couldn’t come near him or his school. A small part of Itachi felt used, but the blond could have stayed with Mikoto and Sasuke. He chose to come to him instead, which made him very happy.

Picking up his school bag, he looked back at the sleeping blond, worrying enough for the both of them, before he stepped out into the hallway and went to class.

Hours later, Deidara finally woke up for real, yawning sleepily and climbed out of bed. His days weren’t very interesting, but he resisted doing something rash. It helped that Kisame had a large collection of video games and was happy to let the blond play them as much as he wanted. There had been a scary moment on Monday when the police had come with the head of security to question Itachi on the whereabouts of the blond, but Deidara had been with Kisame getting pizza for the three of them and had been out of the room. Itachi had had the quick sense to hide Milkshake’s things before opening the door and they had found nothing. Kisame and Deidara had waited around the corner until they left, casting looks at one another.

“You wanted?” Kisame asked, half impressed.

“Nah,” Deidara said, shifting his grip on his pizza. “I got Itachi’s father arrested, so they're always trying to pin shit on me, un.”

“That was you?”

“Yep.”

“Nice.”

“Thanks.”

Itachi had been obnoxiously curious the entire night, not asking questions because Kisame was there, but staring at the blond as though he were trying to read his mind. He had skipped gym and brought him a big breakfast to Not Ask him questions, but persuade him to talk. He was surprised that the blond complained he didn’t go to the gym; why? “Because I like watching you take your shirt off afterwards, un.” The blond seemed pleased by the slightly smug look on Itachi’s face and submitted himself to discussion – though he hadn’t answered any questions. Concluding, they had agreed that Deidara shouldn’t leave the dorm room so he wouldn’t get caught and sent home. Itachi would get in trouble if the administration found out he was keeping someone in his room, and perhaps the police wouldn’t wait to question Deidara. He didn’t really mind. Playing video games and using Itachi’s computer was fine and Milkshake was happy because he got to eat fish and chicken Itachi had brought up for him. Deidara hadn’t been able to save anything from his room. All he had saved from the fire was the phone Itachi had given him, his bag with his wallet, ipod and DS, and the kitten. He had had less. Itachi had commented that he couldn’t buy cat food because they weren’t allowed to have pets in the dorms. It wasn’t a great situation.

A few times, he had lost it and left the room, to get candy, to peek into Itachi’s classrooms, to get food from the cafeteria. No one seemed to be bothered with him, so he didn’t really feel as nervous as Itachi did – because Itachi had inherited his mother’s all-knowing ability and always seemed to know when he left the room. There was one frightening moment when he had been caught on the stairwell on Wednesday. The headmistress, tall and sophisticated, was coming down the stairs as he was trudging up from peeking in to watch Itachi debate with a fellow classmate about something – Itachi was winning the debate by the flustered look on his classmate and the pleasure on Itachi’s blank face that Deidara only saw because he knew him. He had stopped short and stared at the woman, not expecting to see her there – what was an administrator doing on the stairs? She had also stopped, looking at him curiously, but she recovered first and smiled at him with a friendly ‘good morning’. Stammering out a response, Deidara had hurried up the stairs passed her, a tense knot twisting in his stomach when he turned to go up the next landing, seeing her staring back at him.

He didn’t tell Itachi about it because he didn’t want to listen to him panic about them getting in trouble. When he went out, he had to be careful that the door didn’t latch so he didn’t get locked out. Snagging some coins from the jar labeled ‘Kisame’ on the desk Milkshake was sleeping on, he slipped out of the room, putting tape on the latch so the latch wouldn’t catch and went to get candy. The vending machine was at the end of the hall. Itachi was getting out of class soon, but the brunette would probably stop to get food for him and it certainly wouldn’t include candy.

Returning to the door, Deidara was taking the tape off the door when a hand came from behind him and planted heavily on it, causing it to slam shut and the latch to click in place.

Sighing in frustration, he turned to glower at the tall, short haired brunette stranger behind him. “The fuck is your problem, un?” he demanded, gesturing at the door.

“So it’s true,” he replied. “You are a boy.”

Deidara made a show of looking down at himself in his jeans and one of Itachi’s tank tops he’d borrowed. “Wow,” he said sarcastically. “You’re a smart one, un.”

The man frowned down at him. “You don’t recognize me?” he asked, looking a little affronted. 

“No,” Deidara told him, popping a few pieces of candy into his mouth. “But you’ll know my fist if you don’t get out of my face, un.”

He continued as though he hadn’t heard Deidara. “I know you though,” he sneered. “You’re that whore who lied about my uncle and disgraced my entire family with those lies. What did you do to Itachi to make him believe you?”

Deidara blinked. Oh, this was that crazy cousin of Itachi’s. The one that was madly in love with him. Shisui. “Where the hell did you get that idea, dumbass?” Deidara scoffed. “Just cause you were blind to it doesn’t mean it never happened.”

“And now you’re hiding up here like a coward,” the brunette spat at him. “You burned down that apartment and killed kids to hide the evidence of your fraud.” Deidara gave him a look to show just how stupid he thought that theory was. “Why would you lie to my family about being Itachi’s girlfriend?” he demanded, voice rising in anger. “Are you blackmailing my family?”

“What the fuck, you are such a moron,” Deidara commented. “I thought you were supposed to be some genius Itachi was supposed to work to be better than, un. Didn’t have to work too hard, huh? Have you met your family? Why don’t you ask Itachi, huh?”

“I don’t need to,” Shisui glared. “Once you’re out of the picture, Itachi won’t have to pretend to go along with your story. I heard the truth from my uncle and his partner.”

“I’m sure it was a real tear jerker,” the blond grumbled, annoyed with this interaction and waved him off. “‘Out of the picture’?” he smirked. “Gonna kill me, then?”

His smirk seemed to anger the Uchiha even more. “My uncle wants you alive, so you can go to jail like you deserve,” Shisui told him. “He’d come for you himself, but can’t because Itachi is here. Just like you planned.”

Deidara made a soft noise, eyes narrowing as he sized Shisui up and weighing his options. Shisui was older and taller, but he didn’t look as fit as Itachi and probably wasn’t much of a fighter, possibly a runner. In his opinion, the Uchiha didn’t look like much, but then again, Deidara didn’t look like much either, so who was to say. One thing he was sure of was that he could outwit him.

“Itachi will be happy once you’re out of the picture,” Shisui snapped. “He’s too good for shit like you.”

He snorted, tilting his head back a little. “And you’re any better?” he sneered. “Something so pathetic.”

Shisui bristled, but Deidara didn’t give him a chance to retort. Grabbing his shirt, he threw him against the door and smashed his head into the wall and then bolted for the stairs. The stairwell echoed with the banging door and his shoes squeaking on the floor. He underestimated Shisui’s speed though. The Uchiha was hurrying after him, jumping down the stairs as he was. His legs were longer than Deidara’s and he caught up with him before he could get to the first floor. He grabbed and slammed the blond against the wall. He panted softly against the back of Deidara’s neck, crushing his face against the wall. Placing his hands on the tile, Deidara pushed hard off the wall and slid to bolt for the door, but Shisui grabbed his arm and slammed him back to the wall. A soft click made him freeze as he tried to rise again. Looking up, he stared down the thin barrel of the silencer at the end of a gun.

-

Itachi adjusted his bag on his shoulder as he stepped out into his hallway, eyes immediately dropped to the carpeted floor in front of his door. Chuckling softly, he shook his head. Deidara had snuck out again. He had been suspecting the blond was getting tired of being stuck in his room and sneaking out. The past few days, after making sure his door was locked, he would swipe his foot over the carpet to make the fabric stand on end. If someone went in or came out, he’d be able to tell. Kisame left before him, so he wouldn’t disturb the carpet, but it was now flat. Deidara had snuck out again. The blond couldn’t figure out how Itachi knew he’d left the dorm and it was amusing to Itachi to see him bristle when he asked where he’d gone. Maybe he’d go in and ask if he saved him any candy. As he reached for the door, he looked down again and frowned a little. There seemed to be another set of footprints other than Deidara’s near the door. Had someone come?

“..Hm…” he mused aloud and unlocked his door. “Deidara?” he called, looking around the room. The blond’s shoes were gone, his phone not on its charger. His hoodie was still draped over Itachi’s desk chair and his music was sitting on the windowsill where he’d placed it the night before.

“Hey Milkshake, where’s your mom,” he asked the cat who was trotting out of the bathroom to greet him. The kitten rubbed against his leg happily and hopped up onto the desk to sniff the food container hopefully. “Oh, you’re a real help.”

His cellphone rang in his pocket. Hoping it was Deidara, he dropped his things on his desk chair and looked at the screen. It was Sasuke.

“Hey, it’s me,” his brother said, unnecessarily.

“Hey, Sasuke, how are you?” he asked, peeking in the bathroom for the blond.

“Fine, not the point. Has Shisui come to see you?” Sasuke’s voice said on the other end.

“No?” Itachi said, sitting up from where he’d been attempting to look under the bed in case the blond was hiding while Milkshake attacked his bangs. “I’m at school.”

“Yeah, well, Aunt called Mom earlier asking if we’d seen him. I listened on the other phone,” Sasuke told him, without an ounce of remorse in his voice. “She said Dad called this morning for him and he went out to see him before work, but his work said he never showed.”

“…Father called Shisui? What about?” Itachi asked.

“Dunno,” Sasuke told him. “Seemed fishy. Deidara’s with you, right? No one’s seen him since the fire. There’s no way he set it like people are saying, so I figured he must have went to hide with you cause Dad can’t get to you.”

“Yeah, he’s here, but…” his voice trailed off as he glanced at the door. Deidara’s shoes were gone. He had left to wander, but it had looked as though he come back. Or tried to? What if something prevented him from coming in…

“Itachi?”

“Sorry,” Itachi said, jumping to his feet. “Deidara’s not in my room like he’s supposed to be.”

“You don’t think… Dad told Shisui?”

“I need to find Deidara,” Itachi told him, grabbing his keys again and stepped outside. “I’ll call you back.”

Out in the hall, he stared from one end to the other. Where would Deidara go? He quickly dialed the blond’s number, but no one answered. Agitated, he bounced on the balls of his feet. If something was wrong, or Deidara just couldn’t get back into the room, where would he go? To find him? Possibly. Deidara was a crazy bastard, but he was also street smart. Where would he go? Perhaps to find a large group of people to slip into. Shisui wasn’t a violent person, he wouldn’t hurt Deidara, but what if Fugaku had said something to him? What if he told his cousin that that ‘girlfriend’ Itachi had was actually the boy who had gotten Fugaku arrested? What if he lied to him and told him he was innocent? Shisui was a very kind hearted person, but…

Scrolling down through his contact list, he found his cousin and pressed CALL, putting his phone to his ear.

“It’s Itachi,” Deidara stated when he heard his phone ringing. Shisui frowned, eyeing the blond’s pocket. His other phone had been left in the apartment. Itachi was the only person who had this phone’s number.

“What would he be calling you for?”

“I thought Uchiha’s were supposed to be smart, un,” Deidara commented as the ringing stopped.

Shisui glared at him, but then his own phone started ringing. He gave the blond a warning look and pulled it out. “Hello? Hey, Takun!” he said into the phone. “I’m at dinner with a few work friends,” he made a gesture with the gun at Deidara, warning him not to make a noise. Instead, the blond swung his leg out, successfully connecting with the tender area between Shisui’s legs. Smirking, Deidara gave him a shove and jump down the flight of stairs.

“S-sorry, Takun,” Shisui grunted. “I gotta go, the guys are waiting for me. Love you!”

The only way Deidara was going to get away was if he found Itachi. He had called to see where he was, so it was more likely that he was back upstairs, but now Shisui was blocking the fastest way up. He stepped out onto the first floor. People were walking through the hallways, talking and chattering. He wished he had brought his hoodie so he could pull it up to cover his very distinguishable hair. Most of the crowd was heading for the gym towards a game that was supposed to be starting soon. Ducking his head, he followed them.

Back upstairs, Itachi hung up his phone in disbelief. Out to dinner with work friends? Sasuke had said Shisui hadn’t been at work. Sasuke wouldn’t lie to him. In fact, he couldn’t remember his brother ever lying to him. He took a deep breath and dialed Deidara’s number again, muttering for him to pick up as he headed for the stairs.

This time, it was answered.

“Deidara!” he gasped in relief. “Where are you? Why aren’t you in my room?”

“Downstairs,” Deidara’s voice was slightly breathless, sounding like he was moving, voices around him. “Your cousin is batshit.”

“Shisui? He’s here? Did he hurt you?”

“Uh…. Not yet.”

Itachi swore softly and went back to his hallway to use the elevator, pushing the button frantically. “Where are you?”

“In the hallway going to the gym. I think there’s a game going on, so there’s lot of people, un.”

“I’m coming. Watch the door for me,” Itachi instructed, hanging up.

A long stream of curses were running through his head. Shisui was probably right on Deidara’s tail and the elevator was only just arriving, though it was faster than using the stairs. Shisui wasn’t dumb enough to do something in a crowd, and Deidara wouldn’t care if someone else got hurt instead. Knowing Deidara’s fearless cruelty, he may push Shisui too far.

Sitting in the bleachers, Deidara huddled between two students chattering happily about the upcoming game, which would start soon. There were two main entrances, and many smaller ones. It was easy to slip into the anonymity in this crowd. Everyone was wearing the school colors. He was invisible here, but he was agitated and nervous. If Shisui spotted him, would he try to shoot him? How good was his aim? Probably not good enough to shoot him in the crowd, but he had no idea. He spotted Shisui across the arena, stopping to look around. His pause was long enough for the ticket collectors to notice him and demand payment for entering. Deidara smirked a little, and slipped lower in his seat. No one had noticed him coming in.

His eyes moved to the other door behind him and saw Itachi come through, eyes searching frantically. Jumping up, Deidara took the stairs two at a time to get to him. The Uchiha instinctively held his arms out for him to run into gripping him tightly so he could give him a once over to make sure he was alright. Throwing him off, Deidara pushed him back through the door having spotted Shisui coming around towards them.

“What is going on?” Itachi demanded.

“Uchiha sent him to get me,” Deidara said as they turned a corner. “Cause he can’t come himself, un.”

“Shit. Daichi was right,” Itachi said quietly.

“You talked to Daichi?” the blond replied, staring at him. “When?”

“Not important,” Itachi said, placing a hand on his back to give him a gentle shove to get him to go faster. “We have to get somewhere safe.”

“Yeah, that fucker’s got a gun.”

He could feel Itachi’s eyes on him as they ran down the hall, but it wasn’t an angry look. Itachi apparently had known he was hiding. Why hadn’t he said something? As they ran down a deserted hallway, a shout came from behind them. Glancing back, he saw Shisui following after them, gun in hand. They turned a corner quickly. What the fuck? Was he stupid? He could accidentally fire the damn thing holding it like that while running. There was such a little chance of actually hitting himself it was almost pathetic. He could hit another student. He could hit Itachi.

He could hit Itachi.

The thought had barely lasted a second, but it sent a wave of panic through his whole body. His heart seemed to skip a beat as he changed position, pivoting in mid step to slam his smaller frame against Itachi’s. The unexpected movement sent Itachi crashing the floor, but he was out of harm’s way as Shisui came around the corner, sliding across the tile and into the wall from his momentum.

Itachi groaned as he pushed himself off the ground. It took him a moment to realize it had been Deidara who had shoved him. The blond had elbowed his side harder than necessary and his shoulder ached from where it had stuck the ground. He turned to yell at his cousin to stop, but Shisui had stopped running, staring wide eyed in horror from the gun to the hallway. Turning again, Itachi followed his gaze.

Deidara had stumbled to a halt several feet away from where he’d shoved Itachi, hugging himself as he dropped down to the floor.

“Deidara?” Itachi called in a small voice that didn’t sound like his own.

“It’s fake,” he heard Shisui gasp behind him. The sentence was repeated a few times, but Itachi ignored him, willing his body to get up and rush over to the blond.

His face was clenched in pain. Itachi’s hands came back red as he placed a hand on the blond’s back. The blond’s whole body was clenched tight, his breath too shallow. “Dei?” he said, his voice still too high and not like his own. He had to focus, collect his thoughts and organize them into action or Deidara could die. But there was already so much blood.

“Itachi…” Shisui’s voice came closer. “I… I’m sorry. He said it was fake. Just to sca—”

“What the hell is wrong with you?!” Itachi cried angrily causing his cousin to stop short. “What are you standing there for?! Call the hospital!”

“Itachi..”

“Shh,” Itachi crooned softly, smearing blood through his blond strands in an attempt to comfort him with gentle petting. “I’m here.”

“It hurts,” Deidara gasped. “I can’t.. breath.”

Itachi held him gently, shushing him in a soft voice as he pressed down on the blond’s side, feeling a wetness dripping through his fingers. He felt as though his body was shutting down, so numb all his knew was the tiny frame in his arm making pained and pathetic noises as he tried to breath. Itachi didn’t know what to do. He had patched himself up before from his father’s attacks, but he had never been shot before. He had never seen someone shot before. He gripped the tank top the blond was wearing, pressing it down to try and staunch the blood. The bullet had hit his back. Maybe hit a lung. The bleeding wouldn’t stop. Maybe he was dying. The thought made his mind go black, his body cold.

He heard Shisui’s distressed voice from a long way away, an ambulance was on his way. He was so sorry. Fugaku told him the gun was fake. He didn’t know. He was so sorry. There was an odd ringing in his ears and he couldn’t pull his head out of the mist that covered it. The light seemed to grow strange. He was dimly aware that there were people around them. Other students and teachers coming to see what the noise was. It occurred to Itachi suddenly that Deidara had gained weight since the last time he had held him so desperately. That was a good thing. He had been so small before. Now he was healthy and clean. And happy.

“Sorry I pushed you, un,” Deidara’s voice croaked out, coughing blood.

“Don’t talk,” Itachi murmured, sweetly. “It’ll be fine. I’m right here.”

“Hey, I ain’t dying any time soon,” the blond snapped weakly. “Just… really cold..”

“Shh,” Itachi felt his hands shaking and he fought to keep them steady. He had to stop the bleeding. “It’ll be okay. I love you, Dei.”

“Love you too, dumbass,” the blond forced out. Itachi started, staring down at him in shock, but then hands were reaching out, separating them, taking Deidara from him. There was empty space where Deidara had been, only his blood remained.

He became aware someone was gripping his shirt from behind, a comforting and terrified gesture. Paramedics were putting the blond on a gurney, yelling for people to move. How long had he been holding him? He didn’t know. Where were they taking him? He didn’t know. Not the hospital. Deidara was scared of hospitals. The hallways was much too crowded. He stared down at his hands, Deidara’s blood covering them, his sleeves soaked and stained. Deidara’s blood. All over his shirt. His lap. The floor. Too much blood.

“Itachi!”

He looked up, staring at familiar blue eyes. He almost mistook them for Deidara’s, but Deidara didn’t wear brown eye shadow and red lipstick. Deidara wore black that made his eyes look sharper, bluer. Itachi always thought it gave him a look of careless swagger that was highly attractive. His mind wouldn’t settle enough to organize. There was too much fog. “He pushed me out of the way,” Itachi told the Headmistress, his voice distant, not really sure why he was telling her this.

“Why is that boy here, Itachi?” she demanded, reaching out to clutch his shoulders. Who was behind him gripping his shirt?

“He’s scared of hospitals,” he told her, trying to pull his head out of the fog.

“Itachi,” she said firmly, giving him a shake. “Why is Deidara here? He isn’t a student here. Why?”

“Where is he?”

She shook her head a little, frustrated that he wasn’t answering her. “They took him to the hospital, they already left.”

“No!” Itachi jumped to his feet, feeling in his pockets for his keys. “I have to go. I have—” he turned and ran into Shisui who had been standing behind him. His cousin opened his mouth, but stopped at the angry glare Itachi gave him. Seeing him seemed to throw his thoughts back to his own, anger boiling up inside him. “I’ll never forgive you if something happens,” he threw at him, feeling a slight pleasure in the hurt and upset look on his face.

“I’ll drive you to the hospital,” Professor Williams was saying, taking his arm and leading him through the crowd.

The ride to the hospital passed in a dizzy blur. His hands were clenched over his knees, willing the car to go faster. She was driving so slowly. There had been so much blood. She needed to go faster. It felt like hours before they finally arrived and Itachi didn’t wait for the car to be fully stopped before he jumped out, rushing inside and demanding to know where Deidara was. The nurse held her hands up in a plea for him to calm down and began to ask him, in a slow and gentle voice questions, but his frantic answers were quieted by a hand on his shoulder. His headmistress had followed him inside.

“A young man was just brought in with a gunshot wound a few moments ago,” she said. “Where woul—”

“What are you doing here?”

The three heads turned to look over at the red haired man that had walked up to the counter. Itachi stared at him, he wasn’t very tall and looked much too young to be wearing a white lab coat and holding a folder. Still, the nurse addressed him as ‘doctor’ with a tone of respect, so he must be a real doctor. He looked vaguely familiar to Itachi, but he couldn’t place his face. The man’s question hadn’t been directed at himself. There was disgust in his eyes.

“Is this one dying and you are playing the role of an overprotective teacher?” he asked them both when no one answered him.

“It’s Deidara’s blood,” Itachi burst out, interrupting Professor Williams, hoping that this person could help. “He’s hurt and they brought him here.”

“Here?” the doctor demanded, his expression demonstrating his exasperation of the stupidity of mankind. “Why isn’t he in the city?”

Itachi stared at him, relief washing over him. He knew Deidara. Somehow. He took a step towards him, but the doctor held the folder out as though brandishing a weapon, eying the blood on him. “He’s been shot,” Itachi said in a soft voice, expression pleading.

“Sasori—”

“You can go home. You are not welcome here,” the redhead cut off Professor Williams. He turned his expression back to Itachi, looking him up and down. “Hm. You must be Itachi. Come with me.”

“Doctor Akasuna, you’re supposed to be giving a lecture.”

“Busy. Emergency,” the redhead ignored the other doctor that had walked up to them and marched away. Itachi followed him, sitting where he was instructed to in the family waiting area for the emergency room, away from the main waiting area. He watched the man enter the room that was labeled Hospital Personnel Only, seeing him washing his hands through the glass panel of the door before letting the attending pull a sanitized gown on him and he disappeared from sight, snapping for bags of AB blood. Sasori. Sasori… was…. Sasori was Deidara’s friend. He had gotten a picture of the redhead from Deidara the night the blond had graduated. He was the doctor that had been taking care of him since he was a child. The one that liked to travel. What was he doing here? He stared at the door, jaw clenched, then down at his hands, soiled with Deidara’s blood beginning to dry. His face had been so twisted in pain. He was still staring at them when Professor Williams stormed into the room as well, a nurse trying to stop her.

“Let me through,” she was saying venomously.

“Ma’am only close relatives are allowed in this area. Please return to the main—”

“I _am_ a close relative,” she snapped. “I’m his mother.”


	28. Chapter 28

“Okay.” The word was heavy with a desire to recollect information that seemed too difficult to comprehend. There was rare anger in the tone. “Fugaku told Shisui that Deidara lied and was hiding from Fugaku and to go get him, and he gave Shisui a gun telling him it was fake, but it wasn’t and Shisui shot Deidara by accident. And Deidara’s doctor friend happened to be here…?”

“He’s supposed to be teaching a lecture. Which is now four hours late,” the doctor who had tried to stop the redhead before said. Not just a doctor. Dean of Medicine. “He’s very hard to schedule be—”

“Last I checked if a teacher is fifteen minutes late, class is considered cancelled,” Sasori commented.

The Dean started to argue, but Mikoto held her hand up to silence her. She looked down at Itachi who had his head on her shoulder. “And your teacher is claiming to be Deidara’s mother?”

Itachi nodded mutely against her, feeling as though his brain was going to explode from overload. He had felt terror for hours, confusion, betrayal. His mother’s shoulder was a solid, reassuring form. Deidara had said his mother was a foreigner and that she was a lawyer. Deidara had picked out his school from a whole pile. Chance? Doubtful. How had he not seen it? They had the same hair, same eyes…

“I thought that Deidara was an orphan,” Mikoto said in a tone that was both protective and accusatory. He appreciated her caring about him like her own.

“Technically…” Sasori commented, drinking from a mug that read ‘come back when I’ve had my coffee so I can ignore you properly’.

“She left him,” Itachi said quietly to his mother.

He felt his mother’s head jerk towards him and imagined the enraged expression on her face, but it was Sasori who explained, “She didn’t want a boy.” He gave a shrug as though he didn’t care one way or another, but Itachi had seen how he had reacted when he had come out from the operating room a few hours after he had first disappeared and saw her. He had been furious and all but physically threw her out of the waiting room. In his short introduction to the redhead, he didn’t seem like someone who let himself get more than annoyed on a regular basis. “She dumped him on a sidewalk, told him to wait for her, and drove away.”

“What?” Mikoto gave a gasp of horror, mortified at the thought of a mother abandoning her own child. Her hands flew up to hold Itachi tighter, as though assuring him that she would never do such a thing to him or to Sasuke. “I thought… I thought Daichi had taken him in.”

“No,” Sasori shook his head. “Mura found him still waiting for her to come back almost two days after she left him. Then took him in.”

His mother gave a sharp exhale of anger and disbelief, running her fingers affectionately through Itachi’s hair. He hadn’t sat like this in a very long time, curled up against his mother like a frightened child. She had arrived after Sasori had gone back into the room with Deidara a second time. Shisui had called her, but had only said that Itachi was at the hospital. She had burst in expecting to find Itachi injured, but had found him staring at a door that he was not allowed to go through. He had explained what had happened to her and Sasori had come out again, supplying the reassuring news that the blond was stable. It had been then that adrenaline left and exhaustion had hit Itachi and he’d been leaning against his mother since. He didn’t care how childish he looked.

“Does anyone have his insurance card?” the Dean asked in the silence that followed.

“He doesn’t have insurance,” Sasori stated.

She spluttered in horror. “You! You gave him… all those tests! Operated on him. You aren’t covered by the hospital. You… used my staff and medicine and he doesn’t—”

“I’m covering for him,” Sasori cut her off as her rant slowly rose to a screech. She stared at him in disbelief, but he didn’t seem bothered by her anger. “This chat is boring. Excuse me, I find it much more entertaining to watch my patient wake up in their own personal nightmare.”

“Can I go see him?” Itachi asked, lifting his head to look at him.

Sasori looked down his nose at him. “You’re covered in blood,” he replied and went back through the door.

“I… I apologize,” the Dean said to Mikoto. “He is not one of my doctors, I had no ide—”

“That’s quite alright,” Mikoto said in the voice Sasuke affectionately called ‘The Uchiha Tone’. It silenced the Dean’s babble instantly with its inarguable nature. “Is there a shower where Itachi can clean up and change so he can see Deidara?”

“That isn’t allowed,” the woman said, apologetically. “He can go back to the school and—”

“No,” Itachi said, firmly in his own Uchiha Tone.

“I think you can make an exception,” Mikoto said, just as firmly.

It only took a few minutes to convince the Dean to allow him to use the showers. Mikoto used Itachi’s phone to call Kisame to ask to bring him a change of clothes while he stripped and got under the hot water of the nurse’s shower. He had thought he had been tired when he sat with his mother, but as the water hit him, exhaustion made him sink to the bottom of the shower. All that traumatic stress washing down on him with the water. He wanted to sleep. Maybe this was all a dream and if he fell asleep he would actually be waking up. He watched the dried flakes of Deidara’s blood detach from his body and float away to spiral down the drain. His mind drifted back to when he had first met the blond. He had hated him so much, wanting nothing to do with someone like him. How things had changed… he had almost lost him today and it felt as though a piece of him had been torn away. He might still lose him and it made his chest want to cave in at the thought. Deidara had said he loved him too. Itachi knew he did, knew it in the way he laughed at things Itachi said, the way he complained that Itachi was ‘so damn boring’, the way his face lit up when he arrived each weekend to visit, the way he trusted him. He had never expected to hear it out loud.

He didn’t want to see him all beat up and bandaged with tubes and wires attached to him. In that much pain, terrified of his surroundings. Deidara was tough and fearless. ‘I’ve had worse’ he’d probably say, but Itachi knew that was a lie. He had been shot in the back. What if it had hit his lung? Sasori said he was stable, but that didn’t mean anything. What if he couldn’t breathe on his own at all? What if he had only said he loved him too because he knew he was dying? What if he died? What if…

His mother found him much later, coming to find him when he took so long to come out. Sasori was with her, but didn’t offer any help as she shut the water off and wrapped a towel around him, talking to him quietly to snap him out of his panicked trance. He hadn’t had an attack in a very long time, not since before Fugaku had left. He pulled the clothes on that Kisame had brought, noticing that his roommate had also brought the blond’s hoodie. He stepped out into the hallway, clutching it tightly and Sasori finally spoke.

“He’s in his own room now. Awake.”

Itachi looked up at him and saw the redhead staring at him curiously. He was studying his reactions, assessing them silently the way Deidara did sometimes when he wanted information, but didn’t want to ask questions. He wondered if it was a coincidence or if the blond picked it up from him. He probably was expecting him to look happy, relieved, but he didn’t move or speak.

“The bullet missed his lung,” Sasori continued as though Itachi had asked him a question. “It pierced under it and shattered a few of his ribs, one of which inflicted heavy damage to his left lung. He’s on a machine to help him breath for a little while, and he’s currently on morphine and sedatives to keep him from panicking and blowing his heart. The bastard’s survived yet another near death experience. Wish he’d just die and save me all this trouble.”

The corners of Itachi’s lips twitched. “He’s not about to die,” he said quietly. “He’s too stubborn.”

Sasori grunted in what could have been agreement and they followed him through the hospital to an area labeled Recovery. Itachi stopped when they came to the door to the blond’s room, swallowing nervously, afraid of what may be on the other side. Mikoto squeezed his hand, worry etched on her face as well. “I called Mura,” the redhead informed him. “I assume he’ll be arriving soon, so you might want to get your alone time in before he arrives… or Deidara dies.”

Deidara felt as though he were underwater, everything seemed dull and muffled, but his body felt like it was floating. He weighed nothing, he was nothing. It was a wonderful feeling that was broken by a sound that finally came to his senses. A pulsing rhythm. A beep…beep…beep…the sound quickened as he realized what the sound was. He wasn’t floating. Drugs gave that illusion, but he wasn’t on anything. Drugs didn’t make beeping noises so it must be morphine making him feel like that which meant… Which meant… He tried to voice his protest, but he had no voice, no breath. The beeping matched his heart rate to display his panic. He didn’t know the people around him, strangers holding him down. He knew these sounds. How could they ask him to be calm? This was a hospital! Why was he here? He had to get out! Why—

A hand gripped his face.

“Deidara, if you don’t hold still, I will strap you down and take away all your morphine.” Pale skin, brown eyes and red hair came into his fuzzy vision. “You have far too much luck for the average person,” the voice muttered scornfully. “You’ve got a hole in your back and a tube down your throat. Stop struggling.”

Deidara tried to speak again to ask Sasori why. Why. WHY?? Sasori threatened him again and he squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block everything out. He felt himself shaking. Sasori was here, but why wasn’t he telling them to let him go? A hole? In his back? Suddenly memories came back to him, slowed down by the pain killers. Shisui chasing them. Shisui with a gun. Itachi in the line of fire. He gripped Sasori’s shirt and tugged it sharply, a new panic rising as he tried to speak, but only a horrible whine came out.

Sasori looked at him for a moment then shoved his hand away. “He’s in the shower,” the redhead told him, pushing his way between a nurse or two to check his vitals and that the bandage was on correctly. “Get out. I can do this myself.”

“Dr. Akasuna, you’re not employed here. You—”

“Out.” They listened. Of course. Once they were gone, Sasori closed the door and came to sit on the stool beside the bed. The two of them stared at one another for several long moments until Deidara’s brain finally shifted into thinking mode and he gave Sasori a curious look, unable to speak. The redhead understood. “I was supposed to give a lecture on treatment of airborne poisons,” he answered. “Met a frantic brunette looking for you and stepped in to make sure no one killed you. Don’t try to smile, moron, I don’t want my test subject dead because someone made a mistake. I have questions. Blink once for no, twice for yes. Was this Uchiha? That was three, you idiot—stop trying to grin. Was he here?”

Deidara blinked once.

“Did he do this? What did I say?! There is no three—ah… he had someone do it for him.”

Two blinks.

“Do you know the person that did it?” Sasori continued, then gave him an exasperated look. “Are you trying to make three blinks mean ‘sort of’? Right, fine. I told you and told Mura to make sure you stayed low and instead you set fire—”

Deidara furiously shook his head even as Sasori reached out his hand to hold him still. He did not start that fire. He would never have started that fire! Even if he wanted to, he would never have let a building slowly burn with people he liked still inside. He would have blown it up. Sasori watched him as he slowly calmed down before releasing him, settling back to watch him wince in in pain. He sighed and pushed a button to raise his morphine dose.

“It’s not really your style,” Sasori commented offhandedly. “You could still die. Bullet missed your lungs, but barely. You’ve got a few broken ribs and they tore a bit of your lung. Don’t do anything that will make your heart rate or breathing go up.”

Deidara reached his hand up to point at his mouth, but Sasori shook his head. “You’re silent for the first time in your life. I’m keeping you that way as long as I can. I’ll be back in a moment with your new pet.”

It was difficult not to slip into panic mode when Sasori left. Without a distraction, the hospital sounds became loud in his ears again. He had seen his hand, stuck with needles. They itched, he wanted to rip them out. To keep the sounds out he started singing as loud as he could in his head. He hoped Sasori wouldn’t keep him here for long. He hated hospitals. So… so much. But Sasori was going to get Itachi. Oh, shit, Sasori knew about Itachi now. He’d have to warn him to avoid Sasori as much as possible.

It didn’t take long for the door to open again, but he kept his eyes squeezed shut. No more nurses. No more needles. Someone please put those godawful machines on silent. Then he heard a voice. A voice so sweet to his ears, relief swept over him. It sounded odd, worried and timid, not like it normally did, but it was still Itachi’s voice all the same.

“He looks like he’s in pain…”

“He’s not,” Sasori stated before giving the bed a good kick. “He can’t feel anything.” That was true. Deidara cracked his eyes open and looked at them. Itachi was staring at him, eyes wider than normal. Mikoto was standing next to him, looking concerned and unhappy. It took hours to get here… how long had he been out? Sasori stepped into his vision, looking smug – an entirely indecent expression for the redhead. “You little bastard,” he told him. “That’s your secret, isn’t it? Him? Itachi Uchiha? Your _boyfriend_? Is that what you wouldn’t tell me?”

Deidara glared at him. He would not touch Itachi. He would not. He would leave them alone, but Sasori was taking advantage of his silence to continue looking smug. Someone had to distract him before he began to plot. The two Uchihas thanked Sasori and stared at him until he finally stepped out of the room to give them privacy. 

“Are you okay?” Itachi asked, face pale with worry. Deidara gave him a half-hearted thumbs up and Itachi came over to take his hand. “I was scared. You were losing so much blood… I thought…”

Mikoto came up behind him and place a comforting hand on his shoulder, whispering reassurances and Itachi gingerly sat down on the bed, eyes darting from him to the monitors. Mikoto came around the other side and placed her hand on Deidara’s forehead to push his hair off his face. He wasn’t the one that needed comfort though and he shifted uncomfortably and watched Itachi, wishing he could speak to offer him something that would calm the Uchiha down. It was another hour before Sasori finally came back and took the tube out, but he had to keep a plastic mask on his face that force fed him oxygen.

Not long after, Daichi came storming in, looking white faced, but furious as he stopped at the foot of Deidara’s bed staring down at him. Deidara also gave him a half-hearted thumbs up with the grin he gave the mechanic every time he injured himself, but Daichi just gave an exasperated sigh like a deflating bull. “You should have told me where you fucking were,” he growled. A few others from the garage filed in behind him, looking worried.

Deidara gave Itachi a nudge and Itachi jerked his head from the monitor and glanced back at Daichi. “Deidara’s phone was in the apartment,” Itachi told him.

“I know he has another phone,” the mechanic scoffed.

“Sorry,” Deidara croaked out, making it as sarcastic as possible.

With his stitches and bandages, he would be unable to properly wash his hair, so some of the guys came around to braid his hair into hundreds of tiny braids so he wouldn’t have to wash his hair as often. Itachi didn’t seem thrilled with it. He had migrated to laying down next to him after Deidara had aggressively demanded him to by hitting the mattress. He fingered a finished braid and told him later it didn’t feel right. Once Deidara was able to talk, Itachi seemed to relax a little, but continued to monitor the screens and his face carefully.

The furious Dean had discovered them all crowded in the room and Sasori, who was sitting in the corner away from everyone, reminded her that he wasn’t an employee so it wasn’t his job to enforce things like hospital rules of number of visitors. With her breathing down their necks, everyone left, some saying they’d come visit again later and Daichi said he was renting a hotel room nearby for the night so he would be back when he could to demand answers. Deidara glanced at Itachi, then at Mikoto who returned to her seat when Daichi had vacated it. She took both of their hands and rubbed them with her thumb as she watched.

“Deidara,” she called softly, as though he had been asleep. He turned his head to her and she leaned up to kiss his forehead, reaching up to cup his cheek, her expression fierce and intimate. “Thank you for saving my Itachi again, you sweet, sweet boy.”

Deidara made a noise of embarrassed protest, but she continued to smile at him, her thumb rubbing his cheek. “I’m going to bring you two something to eat,” she said.

“I’m not hungry,” Itachi muttered.

The blond tried to nudge him in protest but moving his left arm was a bad idea and he gave a soft grunt, the brunette noticed. “Don’t be stupid,” he said instead. Mikoto nodded her agreement and stood to leave the room. It was quite dark outside now, but the artificial light kept the room quite painfully bright. “I don’t want to stay here,” he murmured, voice still rough but not as bad as it had been. Itachi wouldn’t make fun of him for being afraid. “Let’s sneak out, un.”

“No,” Itachi said predictably. He lift his head off the pillow so he could see him better. “You can’t, not yet. I’m sorry.”

He grumbled quietly. Reaching up, he placed his hand on the back of his neck and pulled him closer. The movement was with his right arm, but it still strained his left side painfully. Seeing this, Itachi hurriedly leaned closer. “I want a kiss,” he stated when Itachi looked confused.

“Deidara,” Itachi sighed, sounding both irritable and apologetic. “I might hurt you. Just relax, okay?”

“I want a kiss, un,” he insisted, turning his chin up at him. Itachi sighed again, and leaned down to give him little more than a peck. Deidara made a grumbling noise and gave him another tug. “More.”

Itachi’s red tinted eyes stared at him, looking apologetic as he shook his head. He began to protest, but Itachi shook his head. “Deidara, no. I will hurt you,” he said firmly. “Did you mean what you said?”

“When?” he asked in confusion.

Itachi’s hand came up to rub his nose gently with the tip of his finger, a small smile on his lips. It was almost too affectionate. Too tender. “Right before they paramedics came,” he told him. “Did you mean it?”

Deidara felt his cheeks growing hot in embarrassment and he quickly pulled his breathing mask up to his face to cover it up as he turned his head away. Crap, he had said it hadn’t he? He took a few small breathes from his mask, unable to take any deep breaths. That thing that had made him so uncomfortable, that thing that he was sure he would never say because it was such a vulnerable thing to say. Why would anyone willingly bare themselves that much to someone who could tear themselves away from you on a whim? Itachi had said them many times to him as if it was a promise, but himself? The last time he had said it to someone... He closed his eyes trying to block out the memory, stuff it down and away where it wouldn’t bother him anymore.

Too late.

“Shit,” he muttered, pressing his palms into his eyes, stars bursting against his lids.

“What’s wrong?” Itachi asked, sitting up on his elbow. “Is something hurting? You don’t have to say it, it’s okay, I’m sorry.”

“No,” Deidara muttered, letting his hand fall. He looked up at the ceiling and took as deep a breath as his pained lungs would allow. “I did mean it,” he finally said in a soft whisper.

Next to him, Itachi smiled and his finger reached up to gently brushed his chin with his finger. “Does it upset you that much?” he asked, seeming to sense the root of his turmoil. “Have you said it to someone before?”

He closed his eyes. Itachi wouldn’t judge. Itachi was safe. “Mutti,” he replied softly again. “My mom,” he clarified.

Mikoto saved him from further embarrassment by returning with food from the cafeteria – sandwiches, salad with water for Itachi, soup and grapes for Deidara along with orange juice and a straw for him to drink from. Even though he had said he wasn’t hungry, Itachi sat up and ate the food while Mikoto carefully fed Deidara after propping him up gently. When they were finished, she told them that she was going to check into a hotel as well so that she could come visit tomorrow. It was too late for her to drive home. Itachi was going to stay with Deidara so he wouldn’t be alone in the hospital. He was grateful that Itachi didn’t bring up those words again, but settled down against him when the bed was put back down, tucking him in and stayed by his side all night, sleeping soundly with him until Sasori came in the next morning to check up on the blond.

“Two vanilla milkshakes, please,” Itachi said to the woman behind the counter.

“And fries too?” she asked, grinning at him. “How is that boy of yours?”

Itachi gave a small grin and told her he was fine. Three days of the hospital and much of staff knew both of them by name now thanks to Deidara. The blond had declared the hospitals milkshakes and fries superb and wanted one as a snack multiple times a day. Itachi wasn’t fooled. It was true, but also an excuse to get Itachi out of the room so he could sneak out and have the hospital staff spend hours tracking him down while he smoked a cigarette. There were some that believed themselves to be clever and thought they could easily find him, but Itachi knew better than them to check the same place twice. He might be on the roof for a smoke, but it would be in a different level, or on a balcony, or out in the garden. Everyone seemed to know who they were now – the loud, obnoxious blond and his quiet, polite shadow.

“What can you tell me about the incident, Mrs. Williams?”

Itachi turned to look over his shoulder. Sitting a few tables away from the counter was his headmistress and a man in a cheap looking suit with a note pad. A reporter, perhaps? Professor Williams had her back to him, her wavy blond hair pulled off her face into a smart bun, so Itachi couldn’t see her face, but her voice sounded tired as she replied, “unfortunately the identity of the shooter is unknown, but it certainly was not a student from my school. When I arrived at the scene, the boys were already on the ground and it was impossible to tell what had happened. The police are investigating, and security has increased. There is no danger to our students.”

“And what of the rumor that you claimed the victim was your son when you entered the hospital?” the reporter inquired. Itachi couldn’t see her face, but could see that she stilled, her shoulders tensing until the reporter spluttered an apology and closed his notepad. “Right. Of course, thank you very much.”

The reporter stood and left, but Williams did not. She continued to sit and stir her cup slowly with a plastic spoon. 

Itachi paid for the milkshakes and took the bag of fries from the woman at the counter and went over to her table, dropping into the newly vacated seat. He couldn’t help it. He was so angry at her, furious. He felt deceived, betrayed. This woman was someone he looked up to, someone he enjoyed learning from, wanting to meet her wit with law, psychology, and logic and hopefully overcome it. Yet the truth stained her. Deidara’s mother. A woman that left her eight year old son on the streets, alone to die. Her son that still didn’t hate her for what she’d done, just mutely accepted that he wasn’t good enough. He caught a glimpse of her before he sat down. She looked remarkably like Deidara as she stared out the window. He hated her for it. Itachi’s hands released the milkshakes before he squeezed them too hard.

“Itachi,” she exclaimed in surprise, startled out of a day dream. “What are you doing here?” When Itachi indicated the milkshake, her surprise faded a little and she looked irritable. “I meant in the hospital.”

“Deidara’s here,” he replied shortly.

“That’s right,” she said smiling. “You were with the boy when he was shot. That’s nice of you to visit with him.”

“He’s my boyfriend,” Itachi told her, just as shortly.

“Oh…” her lips pursed a little, but otherwise didn’t react. “I didn’t know you knew him.”

“I didn’t know you knew him either,” he glowered.

Silence. Professor Williams was staring intently into her tea. “Sasori Akasuna told you I’m sure,” she finally murmured. “He’s always given him attention.” A bitter tone.

“Deidara told me, actually,” Itachi replied sharply. “A long while ago, but I didn’t know it you he was talking about.”

“What did he say?”

“Does it really matter?” Itachi asked, wondering if she’d deny what the blond had told him. Memories of the conversation on the mountain came to mind. The stars had been reflecting in Deidara’s sad, pale eyes. No contempt, no anger, no accusations. In Deidara’s mind, it was his fault his mother didn’t want him. Something he had done that he didn’t know and couldn’t take back. He didn’t think Deidara could lie and fake a look that vulnerable. “Does Deidara have any other siblings you left to die on the side of the road till you got the one you wanted?”

The resemblance to Deidara’s flashing look of anger shocked him again. Eyes sharpening, mouth tight with a slight turn at the corners, demanding to know what gave him the right to question her. “I only have a daughter,” she replied with cool dignity. “Only a daughter. You are young, you wouldn’t understand.”

He wasn’t sure if he hated her more for not even trying to deny her actions. “I am not a child,” Itachi said to her. “Give me a logical explanation for someone to leave their only child on the curb, promising them that they’d come back for them, just because it’s the wrong gender.”

“You have no idea how difficult he was!” she snapped angrily, her voice not growing louder so as not to attract attention from people around them. “I didn’t have—”

“You had other choices,” Itachi snapped at her. “You could have given him to someone else, or actually treated him like a human. He waited for you, he waited and waited. An eight year old boy who just wanted his mother. He _waited_ for you.” He stared at her face, eyes narrowing at his anger. There was no remorse in her face. He found himself disgusted with her. “You don’t have to be here. No one wants you here. You’re pretending to be concerned for the ‘victim’ for good press. Just leave.”

He didn’t wait for a reply. If one was thrown at his back it was lost in the swish of the cafeteria door. He had to get out of there. A moment longer and he might have been kicked out of school for hitting his professor. Mikoto was sitting in the room with Deidara when he arrived, she had brought their phone chargers and Deidara’s DS from Daichi’s, who had to go back to the city for work after grilling Deidara for every single detail he could recall the day of the fire after he left the garage, his journey here – “where is _my_ motorcycle?”, and Shisui’s attack for a few hours.

“What took you so long? It’s melting,” Deidara complained after taking the milkshake from him.

“Sorry,” he said, trying to smile as he returned to his place on the bed next to him. His fingers slowly twisted the tiny braids of blond hair. He would have to go back to school eventually. That school. Her school. Her classes. He could get the classes switched, but that would have to go through her. Being stuck with her for two hours once a week was better than working out a schedule with her.

“Itachi? Are you alright?” his mother asked. He looked up at her frowning at him.

He sighed and looked down at those blue eyes and those boyish long lashes staring up at him in concern. He bit his lip, but decided to ask. “Did you know?” he asked him.

“Know what?”

“Who she was when you picked the school out for me,” Itachi replied, reaching hand up to stop the straw hurriedly going into his mouth so he wouldn’t have to answer. “Is that why you picked the school? Because of her?”

“It’s a good school,” Deidara mumbled in his defense, but his reaction made the answer clear.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Itachi questioned.

“You wouldn’t have gone,” the blond replied.

“You wanted to see her?” Mikoto asked gently.

Deidara frowned down at his milkshake, about to say something, but the door opened and he froze, staring at something over Itachi’s shoulder.

“She followed me,” Sasori’s voice sounded from the door. Itachi expected to see Deidara’s mother, but there was no one with him. The redhead picked up the milkshake Itachi had bought for himself but left on the counter. “Next time, get me chocolate,” Sasori said, taking a sip and looked a little disappointed. “It’s melting…”

“Hello! I made this for you!”

Jerking around, he saw a little girl with pigtails and dark eyes standing next to Mikoto by the bed. She was holding out a handmade card to Deidara. It was pink and very glittery with crayon drawings of a pony with purple spots having a tea party with two yellow haired people. Inside was a smiley stick figure with wings surrounded by glittery balloons and flowers. On the right hand side were the words ‘get better’ in misshaped child hand writing.

“I made it myself!” she boasted, swishing her dress that matched the one the doll in the crook of her arm wore. “Mr. Sasori said you were sick and so I made it because getting cards makes people all better when they’re sick!”

The three adults turned to look at Sasori who seemed fascinated with something out the window with his back to them. Deidara swallowed and took the card from her. “It’s very pretty. Thanks, Marianna.”

The girl gasped dramatically. “You know my name?”

“Sasori… told me, un,” Deidara stammered out. Sasori gave an unhelpful scoff from the window.

“Oh,” she giggled, giving him a big grin. “This is Victoria, she’s from France.”

“She’s very pretty. I like her dress, but it looks cuter on you,” Deidara told her. Itachi turned to stare at him, but the blond ignored his questioning look, eyes only for the girl. Itachi had never heard Deidara talk to like that before.

“Marianna,” the door opened again, Sasori finally moving to stand in the way, but Professor Williams just barreled passed the small man. “Sweetheart, you were supposed to stay in the play area. You shouldn’t have wandered off like that.”

“I was with Mr. Sasori, mutti,” she said, bouncing over to her. “I made a card!”

“That’s nice of you, Liebling,” Professor Williams said. “Go find your daddy.”

The little girl turned and obediently left the room, leaving a silence behind. “Sasori,” Professor Williams said coolly, turning to him. “Please leave my child alone.”

“Which one?” Sasori asked sardonically, eyebrow rising.

Professor Williams glared at him, but with a sudden movement, Mikoto flung out her arm and slapped her across the face. Itachi started, almost grabbing Deidara, who had jumped as well, in shock. He had never seen his mother so angry before, never seen her lash out. His mother was breathing hard, her dark eyes sharp and angry. Professor Williams seemed to consider throwing something back at her, but his mother’s expression stopped her. Mikoto drew a shaking breath and stood up to her full height, sliding her hands down her jacket to settle herself. “You,” she said, her voice a forced calm, “are not welcome in this room or near this boy.”

“I was collecting my daughter, Ms. Uchiha,” Professor Williams told her coolly.

“Your daugh—your daughter? Your son is lying on this bed,” Mikoto flared up again, pointing her finger at them. “How could you do such a vile thing? Your son!”

His headmistress took a deep breath, nose turning up a bit as she seemed to be forcing herself not to look at the bed. The anger between the two women clashed, but Professor Williams seemed wary about facing Mikoto in an argument. Instead, she also straightened her jacket, but marched out of the room with as much dignity as she could muster. Sasori’s eyes followed her, then looked at Mikoto as if she had impressed him. “Fix your face,” the redhead snapped. Itachi started, thinking he was talking to him, but realized he meant Deidara. “Ten years, Deidara.”

“Shut up,” Deidara bit out, dragging the covers up as far as they would go and jerked to the side, away from them.

“Dei, don’t you’re going to tear your stitches,” Itachi warned, trying to gently turn him around.

“She didn’t care then, she won’t now,” the redhead continued.

“Shut up!”

“Sasori,” Mikoto scolded.

“Stop expecting something from her.”

“Why did you let Marianna in then, un?!”

“…Clearly I have a weakness for persistent and obnoxious blond midgets,” Sasori rationalized. “I didn’t think Maria would come in.”

“Sasori, please leave,” Itachi started, but Sasori continued.

“She doesn’t want you. Wake up and get out of your fantasy that she’ll change your mind.”

“Get out!” Deidara yelled, sitting up in his bed.

“Don’t take your anger out at me,” Sasori said, as monotonous as always.

“Sasori,” Mikoto said, moving between Sasori and the bed protectively. “Please step outside.” Sasori stared at her, then at Itachi who had arm around Deidara as he curled up to clutch his chest in pain. Though what kind of pain, Itachi didn’t know. The redhead finally turned and left, the door sliding firmly shut behind him. Deidara laid back down, pulling the covers up again and jerked his head away from the two Uchiha’s.

“Dei…don’t lie like that, you’ll hurt yourself,” Itachi told him, trying to roll him back around.

“I’m fine,” came the muffled reply.

Mikoto came over, leaning down to touch Deidara’s shoulder, murmuring kind words to him as she had to Itachi. Finally he let them roll him onto his back, Mikoto checking his bandages under his hospital gown as he stared up at the ceiling looking furious at himself. “Oh sweetheart,” she murmured gently, hand on his shoulder. “I’m so sorry…”

“I’m fine,” he repeated, tugging his arm away from hers and turned his head away from her against Itachi’s shoulder. He would take Itachi empathy over Mikoto’s motherly warmth that made him so uncomfortable, emphasizing worse than ever since she knew what he had never received. “I’ve just got glitter in my eye from that stupid card, un.”

Itachi didn’t say anything, unsure of what to say. Instead, his hand rubbed slow, gently circles on Deidara’s stomach. Either he didn’t mind the touch, or he was too preoccupied with the card in his hands from his little sister to notice while Mikoto watched them both with tears in her eyes.


	29. Chapter 29

After five days in the hospital, ears constantly assaulted by pulsating noises that continued unchanging – noises you wish would change but dread at the same time, because new noises meant bad things, after days of it one would grow accustomed to it. Deidara defied logic on a regular basis and wasn’t about to relax it now. He constantly begged to leave, entertaining Itachi with his plans to sneak out when they were curled up in bed. Part of the reason was sure to do with boredom, but Itachi could see the panic in his eyes when he woke up and remembered where he was or when a nurse came in to check on them. One thing that had gone back to normal was Deidara’s inability to sit still for long periods at a time. More often than not the nurses would come in to find an empty bed and the hunt would be on following an earful from Sasori. Today was no different.

“Sasori is going to murder one of your nurses one day,” Itachi told him as he handed the smoking blond his milkshake. God only knows how Deidara managed to get to the small park in the hospitals backyard in a hospital gown without anyone stopping him. Deidara was either far sneakier than Itachi realized or the hospital staff was completely daft.

“Good,” Deidara muttered, slowly blowing smoke from his mouth as though he had practiced to perfect the motion. “I hate them all.”

“They’re just doing their job,” Itachi reasoned, sitting down next to him. “You really shouldn’t be smoking in your condition,” he added. Deidara ignored him. “What are you doing out here?”

“Thinking,” was the reply.

“About what?” Itachi prompted, holding Deidara’s cigarette while he took a few gulps of the thick sweet drink and leaned back against him.

“Marianna,” Deidara mumbled after a moment of silence looking embarrassed. “I hadn’t seen her in a while… She’s gotten bigger. You know that doll she had? I sent it to her for her birthday a few years ago. They think it’s from a cousin. Guess she liked it, huh?”

“Yeah,” Itachi said, taking a swig of the blond’s cigarette. He frowned at it suddenly, wondering where the hell Deidara had gotten a cigarette from since he hadn’t brought him cigarettes and the hospital didn’t sell them. He decided it was better to not know. “You’ve seen her before?”

“I… may have been accused of stalking once or twice,” Deidara admitted sheepishly. “Before they moved away from the city, un.”

He was grinning, but Itachi felt his own face falling slightly. Of course Deidara would want to see his family, but if he heard that they had a new child after getting rid of him… Itachi resisted the urge to put his arm around Deidara. “She was cute,” he said. “Maybe as cute as Sasuke when he was that age.”

Deidara barked out a laugh. “Except when you were with him, un. I’ve seen pictures, oh doting big brother.”

“Right,” Itachi scoffed. “When do I get to see pictures of you as a kid, hmm?”

“Never,” Deidara said shortly. “There are none, un.”

“Really?” Itachi pressed, a little disappointed. As Deidara nodded, he sighed and held out the blond’s cigarette so he could keep smoking it. Pulling out his phone, he sent Daichi a text to ask him.

‘of course’ was the reply, a few moments later it was followed by a picture of a younger looking Daichi with red hair and less facial piercings sitting on a motorcycle with a very young looking Deidara sitting on the hand bars. Another came with them sitting at a table, the young Deidara proudly eating his vegetables while Daichi was apparently trying to hide them under his plate. ‘Rin’s got albums, you can see when you come visit if you want’. Itachi smiled at them and saved the pictures to his phone. He doubted there’d be any of the blond any younger, not unless he did a lot of detective work. ‘Sasori’s known him longer’ came another text. ‘You can ask him, but he doesn’t seem the type.’ That seemed true. Sasori didn’t seem like a sentimental person, but he would remember to find a moment to ask.

“Who are you texting?” Deidara asked.

“Daichi wants to know if you’ve made a master escape plan yet,” Itachi lied, tucking his phone into his pocket. “I told him you were tying sheets up to climb out the window.”

The blond gave a grunt of a chuckle, putting out the cigarette and dropped it into the trashcan. “He’s never going to let me leave,” he commented as he leaned back, chewing on his straw. “Don’t let Sasori catch you alone, un,” he added suddenly. “I don’t trust him that much. He might run experiments on you, un.”

Itachi gave a quiet snort of a laugh as Deidara drew his bare legs up onto the bench so he could lean against Itachi, his toes curling against the wood. “I’ll be careful,” Itachi assured him. “But when you get out, you’ll have to go back home with mom,” he reminded Deidara quietly. Their sneaking was blown. He doubted Professor Williams would allow Deidara back onto campus now. Not even for a weekend.

“Maybe she’ll let me stay?” Deidara said, the hopeful tone in his voice was meek. Did he really think his mother would be alright with this? After all this, did Deidara believe that something would change his mother’s mind about him? Itachi couldn’t imagine what if felt like because his own mother was the kindest, most loving person in the world and would never do something like that to him, or to Sasuke.

Deidara seemed to sense what he was thinking and sighed heavily. “No, she probably won’t, un,” he murmured. “At least I’ll get to sleep in your comfy bed a bit longer.”

Itachi frowned a little. “You should stay with mom longer than a ‘bit’,” he chided. “Who’s going to take care of you afterwards?”

“I can take care of myself, un,” Deidara assured him, laughing. His assurance failed when he continued, “I took care of myself that time I tried to fly off the roof, remember?” Itachi cringed, remembering Deidara’s tales of drug induced adventures and scars he received from it. This new scar he would have on his back wasn’t from a crazy adventure of a customer with a sadistic fetish. He had pushed Itachi out of the way to keep him safe. Shisui had lost his sense of reason in his jealousy and Fugaku’s lies. He had received a very long apology from his cousin, explaining how his father had called him and fed him stories of Deidara’s lies and how he had been led to believe the gun was fake, only to be used to intimidate. He was planning on turning himself and Fugaku in, as well as Fugaku’s partner and a few others. He looked over the blond again in worry. Two broken ribs, a bruised lung, and a hole in his back.

“Do you think I can still visit?” Deidara was asking. “Like on weekends?”

“I don’t think so,” Itachi told him. “But I’ll make sure to come visit every weekend this time.”

“You better not try going back to that school,” came a dry voice behind them. “Or I’ll lock you in a cage.” Both turned to look at Sasori standing behind them with his hands in the pockets of his jacket with a blank expression. It was impossible to tell how long he had been standing there, a rather unnerving thought to Itachi. “The Dean says we have overstayed our welcome. She claims to believe you’re well enough to go home or transfer to one of the city hospitals.” His tone made it clear that he believed the Dean of Medicine was an idiot who was in no position to have any opinion.

“What? That’s bull! There’s no way I’m going to one of those shitty hospitals, un! I don’t even want to be in this one,” Deidara protested, starting to jump up, but Itachi patiently pulled him gently, but firmly back down on the bench. “Can’t I just go home? I feel fine.”

“There’s nothing you can do?” Itachi asked the redhead. “Just to give him a little bit more time to recover?”

Sasori took his hands out of his pockets to make a gesture of defeat. Itachi didn’t like the redhead very much, but he trusted him as he trusted Deidara to do everything possible to get his own way, but the Dean of Medicine seemed to have put her foot down. Sasori tried to tug Deidara away from him to check on him again, but Itachi held onto him tightly. It was one thing to think about him having to go away again, but another to have it said so definitely. Hurt and with his father a threat, Itachi didn’t want the blond out of his sight. The blond wouldn’t stay at a hospital back home, he was barely staying in this one and it was only because Itachi and Sasori were there to keep an eye on him most of the time. Sasori’s brown eyes hardened for a brief second before slipping back into the normal blank expression as he gazed over Itachi’s shoulder. Deidara followed it and cringed, clarifying who was approaching.

“Itachi, you need to return to you classes.” He turned to face Professor Williams walking up to them with Marianna and Professor Awai, his political history professor. As they walked closer, Itachi glanced at Deidara who was picking at the lid of his milkshake, seeming to be fascinated by the plastic. “You’ve taken enough time off.”

The brunette turned to look back at them. “I’d like to request more, Professor,” he said, a little stiffly. “I can talk to my teachers and follow the lesson plan from home.”

“Unacceptable,” Professor Williams said sternly. “You’ve been breaking school rules sneaking him onto school property. I cannot reward you for that.”

“Couldn’t you make an exception? My teachers won’t mind, I have the highest grade in my classes.”

“Absolutely not,” she snapped.

“But he’s your—” Itachi cut himself off as a sharp pain resonated from his thigh where Deidara had pinched him. “…daughter’s friend,” he finished instead, glancing down at the little girl.

“He is not,” Professor Awai said in a clipped tone that clearly meant to reply the unfinished one. Itachi stared at him, realizing who he was in relation to Professor Williams, Deidara, and Marianna. Deidara had gotten nearly all his looks from his mother, but there were a few recognizable traits here and there in his father. He found himself fighting to keep the anger from rising passed where it surged in his stomach.

“He is daddy!” Marianna chirped, shaking his hand. “If he stays at mutti’s school I can play with him.”

Itachi stared at the picture before him. Mother, father, daughter. It was hard to imagine looking at them that there was a son that should be standing there with them, almost an adult. Instead he was sitting next to Itachi, silent and tense as he tried to ignore the family behind him that he wanted so badly to be accepted in, but never would. He stood and walked over to the adults, feeling Sasori and Deidara’s eyes following him as he stopped in front of them. He despised the pair of them in a way he had only ever reserved for his own father. “Professor Williams,” he said, his voice clipped and quiet so it wouldn’t carry behind him to the listeners. “I’d like to request time off to work from home…and I won’t tell anyone who Deidara is to you. To the pair of you. Bad publicity.”

She stared down at him intensely, Itachi feeling bitterly annoyed at how much she looked like Deidara when he was irritated, except that she was much taller. “I will excuse you for the rest of the week,” she finally said coolly. “You may request to work from home from your professors, but then you must return to your classes. And if he is caught sneaking back in, you will lose all your privileges to my school.”

“But m—”

“Marianna, Liebling,” she said, leaning down to lift the girl up in her arms. “I know you want to play, but they have to go home now. So do we.” She gave the pouting cheeks a soft kiss, giving her an affectionate smile before leaving with her husband, but not before giving the three of them a final warning look. “Do not follow us,” she added to no one in particular when her back was turned.

“I can’t wait till that kid figures it out,” Sasori commented dryly, then turned to look at the two of them. “Mikoto is here, she’s going to take you back to her house.”

Itachi nodded and came back to Deidara who slid his bare feet back onto the brick pathway and they walked back to the hospital, Sasori shadowing them an annoying distance away. Deidara gave Itachi a fake smile to get him to put away the worried expression on his face. Itachi returned the smile, then reached his arm around to rest on his far shoulder. “Why is he following us like that?” he whispered in his ear.

Deidara looked at him curiously then glanced back. “What?” he demanded aggressively, giving Sasori a dirty look. 

“I might postpone my next trip for a few days,” Sasori said as though he wasn’t following an uncomfortable half step behind them. “Keep my eye on you.”

Those words sent a chill down Itachi’s spine. He didn’t think the redhead meant just Deidara. Itachi didn’t want to be anywhere near Sasori, nor did he want Deidara to be alone with him anymore. Why the blond trusted him, he was at a loss, but he had the sense that they had known each other for a long time. The tension didn’t lessen until his mother approach them and Sasori finally stepped an acceptable distance away to let Mikoto into the bubble. From what Itachi had observed, Sasori liked controlling the situation. Wanting to be the one who invaded people’s bubbles, pulling the strings. If someone else stepped in, he would back away. Strange man.

Mikoto hugged them both, Deidara much more gently, but still full of affection that he still seemed embarrassed about. Now that Itachi had seen how the blond’s mother was, he understood the embarrassment more. He wondered if Maria Williams had ever hugged her son before discarding him. The thought made his chest feel like a fist had suddenly squeezed him. He wanted to reach out to take the blond’s hand, but his mother was whisking him back inside the hospital, passed the harassed and annoyed looking nursing staff Deidara had snuck passed and to the elevator.

“I heard that Deidara must go home,” Mikoto said, fussing over the blankets as Deidara climbed back up onto the bed so the nurse, with Sasori looking on, could make sure he wasn’t going to die any time soon. “I’d like you to stay with Sasuke and me, if you want to. I know you don’t like hospitals, so I think it would be best until you’re stable enough to go…” she trailed off with a frown. “Deidara, do you have a place to stay? With the apartment gone?”

Deidara nodded. “Daichi’s garage has places to stay,” he told her.

“What about your things?” she asked softly.

“I have stuff there,” Deidara told her, making a face and shifting uncomfortably.

“I was given permission to stay home for the rest of the week,” Itachi put in. “I can bring some of Deidara’s things to the house and help.”

“I hate being fussed over,” Deidara grumbled after Mikoto went out to speak to the nurses and Sasori about the things she would need to know to take care of the blond.

“You’re full of it,” Itachi said with a soft laugh, sitting on the bed next to him. “You love it.” He leaned down to prop himself up on his elbow, reaching up to tug one of the tiny braids, then flicked it away. “When we get home, I’ll take you to a salon so you can get your hair washed and taken care of so you don’t have to wear the braids anymore. I don’t really like them.”

“Me neither,” he mumbled tugging at them. “I miss showering. I feel gross.”

“You look gross,” Itachi teased, chuckling softly as Deidara gave him a jab with his fist. Deidara launched into a long winded story of a time when he and a friend, after an afternoon of drinking had tried towing Deidara on a skateboard like a water skiing while his friend drove, how it had worked except his friend crashed into a light pole and he had crashed into the car and broke his arm. His conclusion was that this injury was nothing and that his arm had been gross after he had taken his cast off, but Itachi let him chatter without contradicting him, happy he had more time with him.

“Are you just carrying me for the rest of my life?” Deidara asked as Itachi lifted him out of the car a few hours later. The brunette replied with a neutral grunt and took him up the stairs to his bedroom. He paused at the doorway, taking in the familiarity of the room. His mother had kept it just as he left it and every time he returned he felt a wave of childhood nostalgia. He felt Deidara’s eyes on him as he looked at the room so he entered and laid him on the bed. Deidara gave a sigh as he sank into the pillow. “This bed is still insanely comfortable, un.”

He nodded and laid down next to him and gave a soft groan of agreement. Deidara grinned and rolled over to face him, but Itachi firmly rolled him back. “You need to be careful,” Itachi reminded him, seriously. “Just because you’re out of the hospital doesn’t mean you’re completely healed. You need to stay in bed, even if you get bored… I can bring you games and things if you’d like, but after I have to go back to school, you can’t sneak off. No going out to parties, or racing, definitely no drinking, or anything like that.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Deidara grumbled.

“And you can take baths, but no showers, you can’t get the bandages wet,” Itachi continued. “And you really should cut back on smoking. I’m not buying you more and don’t you dare try to get Sasuke to buy you some. Your lungs are still healing and is more of a risk when you smoke.”

“Yeah, I know,” Deidara glowered.

“After mom says you can go back to Daichi, but you shouldn’t—…sorry,” he mumbled, when Deidara glared at him. “I’m just worried,” he added.

“Really? Gee, I couldn’t tell, un,” Deidara commented with a roll of his eyes. “So I guess you’re gonna tie me to the bed now?” That devious grin returned to his face, his hand sliding up Itachi’s thigh. “Keep me from going anywhere?”

Itachi caught his wrist and placed it back down on Deidara’s waist. “No,” he said firmly, “we can’t do that.”

“Says who?” Deidara crooned, lifting his hand again to walk slowly up Itachi’s waist and chest, but Itachi once again caught it and placed it down, shifting to his side and reaching out to cup Deidara’s cheek, his arm resting across the blond’s chest to weigh him down gently.

“I will hurt you,” Itachi said sternly, rubbing his thumb gently across the soft skin of his lower lid. “Your stitches will tear. You need to take it easy for a while, I’m serious.”

Deidara gave a huge roll of his eyes and folded his arms across his chest. “You don’t have to worry so much, un,” he said, irritably. “I’ve survived worse.”

“Based on the look on Daichi’s face when he came to the hospital, I’m incline to think that is a massive lie,” Itachi stated, then sighed. “Would you like for me to go get some of your things or take you to get your hair done?”

“Well, I can’t go get pretty in your boring ass clothes, un,” Deidara commented, tugging at the shirt Itachi had brought for him.

Itachi gave a soft roll of his eyes and stood up again. “Alright, I’ll be back,” he assured him. “Be good. I’ll bring you a milkshake.”

“Milkshake?” Deidara suddenly sat bolt upright and made to throw the blanket Itachi had tossed over him away as Itachi tried to push him back down. “Shit! I forgot about—!”

“I didn’t, I didn’t,” Itachi said hurriedly, gripping the blond’s shoulders and giving him a gently but firm shake to get his attention. “Mom picked him up and brought him here when you were still in the hospital. He’s probably with Sasuke.”

Deidara heaved a sigh of relief and laid back down. His ribs throbbing from the sudden movement. “I totally forgot about him… does that make me a shitty parent?”

“No,” Itachi said, leaning down to give him a kiss on the forehead. “You were shot, I think you can be given a pass.” He started for the door then stopped and looked back. “Deidara,” he said, in a serious tone. The blond gave him an innocently quizzical look. “Don’t you dare give my mother a hard time,” he warned, before closing the door behind him and going downstairs.

He met his mother in her office where she was comparing something on a piece of paper with something on her computer screen. She smiled when he came in and asked if Deidara was settled. He told her where he wanted to go and asked to borrow her car since his was still at school. She handed him her keys and told him to drive safe. Sasuke met him at the door, holding Deidara’s kitten who yowled at Itachi for being away for so long.

“Can I come?” Sasuke asked.

“I’m just picking up some stuff for Deidara,” Itachi told him, sliding his shoes on.

“Yeah, but I haven’t seen Daichi’s garage,” Sasuke insisted. He looked hopeful while Itachi turned to give him a skeptical once over. “Oh, come on. I’m not a dumb kid. I want to see it.”

“Could have fooled me,” Itachi said under his breath, but smiled when Sasuke gave an indignant ‘hey’. “I don’t think it’s a good idea today.”

Sasuke humphed irritably and glanced up at the ceiling. “Did Deidara really get shot?” Itachi nodded and Sasuke grinned a little. “Cool.”

“Not cool,” Itachi corrected, frowning at him and reached up to give him a poke in the forehead. “Don’t encourage him and don’t let him talk you into letting him out. You should take him Milkshake though.”

Sasuke gave an annoyed click of his tongue and turned to go upstairs as Itachi left the house. Daichi greeted him when he walked into the garage, cleaning his hands off with a rag so he could shake his hand. Giving him an update on Deidara’s condition, Itachi explained that the blond would be staying at his mother’s house for a while to heal, but also to keep him safe – though no one was saying that to Deidara’s face so he wouldn’t sneak out on principle.

“Good,” Daichi said with a nod. “Mikoto will take care of him better there than anyone else could. No one here really has any time to take care of anyone else.”

Nodding, Itachi glanced at the closed door to the bunks. “I’m picking some things up for him,” he explained.

A shadow of a pained look crossed Daichi’s face, but it was gone in a moment. “Wont have much,” the mechanic said heavy voice. “Most of his things were in the apartment, but there should be a few things in there.”

“Thanks.”

Itachi opened the door and stepped through, looking around at the familiar room of bunks built into the wall. There were more beds filled than he remembered, but perhaps those who survived the fire were staying here now. He looked up at the fourth bunk in the corner and smiled. He had spent so many days up in that bunk, hiding under the covers, shushing the hot body under him. It really hadn’t been that long ago, but they seemed so young then. Deidara had filled out a little since then, his tiny, thin body had more muscle on it and lacked the starved, drug addict aspect of his self when Itachi had met him. He was much healthier now, clean of drugs. He had even asked Mikoto in the car to hold onto the pain medication the hospital had sent him home with. Itachi climbed up the ladder and laid down on the lumpy old mattress and took a deep breath. Mmm, the smell of Deidara’s favorite shampoo lingered on the fabric from years of being slept on. As he always did, he turned his head to look at the pictures taped to the wall on his left and smiled fondly at the pictures of the two of them the blond had saved, a few more added since he had last looked. He would miss seeing him in the morning and eating meals with him when he returned to school. 

Her school.

He gave a soft sigh and sat up, turning to the back of the bunk behind the blond’s pillow where he kept his stash of items in a built in box with a lid. There was a gift bag at the top, containing a tag that let him know it had been a graduation present for the blond. Inside were sweets and gift cards and packages of molding clay. He set the bag aside to take to the blond. He focused on the clothes and realized this would be an impossible task. Unsure of what to bring, he pulled out – and folded – several pairs of a pants, shorts, and shirts, placing them in a duffle bag that had been crushed against the side of the bin unceremoniously. It felt a little odd to be going through someone else’s things, but Itachi found himself interested in the non-clothing items. The apartment had been mostly bare of things other than clothes, perhaps he trusted Daichi’s security more. Here was toys from gatcha machines, arcade winnings, his Christmas presents, oddly shaped momentos that looked handmade, a handful of picks and a drum stick of bands he didn’t know, discarded pens, several sharpies, and his skateboard.

He smiled down at them all, these things his crazy blond treasured. He placed them all back away – a little better organized, and climbed down the bunks again after shutting the bin and curtain. 

When he arrived home, he slung the bag over his shoulder and picked up the bag of fries and milkshake that he promised and set the alarm on the car. He heard a soft giggle above him and looked up to see the blond leaning out his window with a cigarette, eyes on the bag of fries. Itachi frowned.

“Where did you get those cigarettes?” he demanded. He distinctly remembered the blond complaining that he was out on the way home and arguing with Itachi about stopping to get more on the way home.

The blond smirked down at him, with a playful air of innocence, which dropped away instantly when a large car pulled up behind Itachi. He turned, ignoring Deidara’s sudden gesture for him to get in the house, and saw Sasori drop down from the driver’s side.

“Hello, Itachi Uchiha,” he said with a nod. “Come with me.”

Itachi blinked, slightly taken aback. “No,” he replied.

Sasori’s brows knitted together slightly. “I am going to show you how to take care of Deidara’s wound and also give you medication for him,” he told him.

“We can go inside and you can show me,” Itachi said, taking a half step to turn towards the door.

“No,” Sasori stated. “Please come with me.”

He hesitated for a moment. Deidara went with Sasori, but Deidara had also insisted that Itachi not let himself be alone with the redhead. He glanced at the window, but Deidara wasn’t there now. Making a decision, he placed the duffle bag and the snack by the front door, his mother’s keys on top of the bag, and went to Sasori’s car. He was rather curious about the man. He got into the passenger seat while Sasori slipped – or rather climbed – into the driver’s seat. Sasori was even smaller than Deidara and he considered Deidara to be quite short. He glanced back at the house as Sasori pulled away, seeing Deidara at the front door, staring at them in horror. Itachi pulled his phone out to show it to him before they drove away. He had his phone it would be okay.

Neither of them spoke. It wasn’t the same sort of silence that begged to be broken like when Itachi was in the car with a silent Deidara, but it wasn’t a comfortable silence either. He had been under the impression that Sasori didn’t like people very much and preferred to be completely silent unless he was insulting someone, but it suddenly occurred to Itachi that the redhead was making the silence awkward on purpose, perhaps to make Itachi start talking. If he had been Deidara he surely would have cracked by now, bubbling out with whatever came to mind. On their way home from the hospital, Deidara had talked for a solid thirty minutes about sunflowers because he had just read on the internet that a sunflower wasn’t one flower, but a false flower with thousands of tiny flowers inside the false one. He smiled inwardly. He did like how words just tumbled out of Deidara’s mouth when he was excited about something. He was not Deidara though, and Sasori would be disappointed if he thought Itachi would crack in the silence.

The house they pulled up to was almost invisible for the trees and shrubs that hung over the low brick barrier dividing the property from the outside world. The path to the front door twisted a little to make way for garden beds that seemed to be built on top of each other, artfully crafted with bricks and stone and stuffed with a wide variety of plants and flowers. He didn’t know much about plants, but could tell that either Sasori liked gardening as much as Deidara liked fireworks, or he had a very skilled professional gardener working for him.

“Don’t touch them,” Sasori said, breaking the silence when Itachi paused to wait for him to unlock the door, staring at some of them. “They’re poisonous.”

Somehow, that didn’t surprise him at all. He hadn’t been intending to, but it was good to note anyway. He looked down at his phone.

‘dont eat anything!!!!!!!!!!!’

He text Deidara back to tell him not to worry about him and entered the house behind Sasori. The redhead watched him take off his shoes before stepping into the rest of the house and seemed to close his eyes as if he had been given a small blessing from heaven before doing the same. Itachi held back the grin – Deidara always kicked his shoes off when he was already halfway into the house. Sasori stared at Itachi for a moment, as though contemplating saying something to him, but changed his mind and motioned for him to follow him into the expensively decorated, but mostly bland house. He did so, keeping his hands to himself as they walked into the kitchen. Sasori paused and watched him a moment before turning away.

“What?” Itachi finally asked.

Sasori turned his honey brown eyes on him and stared. “I am not used to someone who is not Deidara in my house,” he explained. “It is odd that you haven’t tried to raid my fridge.” Without waiting for a response, he turned and led him down a flight of stairs to the basement.

Itachi was a little disappointed. He had been expecting something that a mad scientist would have, or perhaps a murderer – dark and dirty, fully of chains and shackles, shelves of eyeballs and disfigured hands in glass bottles. Instead the room was nearly empty save for a bookshelf along one wall. The walls appeared to have been white at some point, but was now covered in multiple layers of spray painted designs, neon colored brushed paint, markers, and crayons. There were different levels of artistic talent there, from a child’s drawing to a skilled artistic hand. He wondered how many other people Sasori had brought down here, then realized he realized that he had seen this level of layered paint in another room once before and recognized the signature on some of the pieces.

They were Deidara’s.

“He hates white walls,” Sasori’s voice brought him back to the present. “I let him have the basement to color.”

“That was nice of you,” Itachi said politely, not really having anything else to say in response as he stepped closer to examine one less than three feet off the floor. The way Sasori talked, even if he started the conversation always seemed to be the end of a conversation. Itachi suspected he perfected that to keep people from talking to him. The only person it didn’t work on was someone like Deidara who was almost impossible to intimidate and could talk your ear off about nothing.

“It was either this or the entire house,” Sasori said blankly. “No one sees this part.”

“…No one sees the rest of your house either,” Itachi reminded him, raising an eyebrow.

“I do,” Sasori stated, then moved to the bookcase and pulled out a thick black volume that read Encyclopedia V.XIII. The book didn’t come out all the way, latching in place halfway out with a small click, opening the hidden door behind the bookcase. Well, that at least was a start to what Itachi had been expecting to see, though not really the door-behind-the-bookcase-with-the-book-latch stereotype.

He wasn’t quite ready to leave the room yet. Itachi looked back at the drawing done in crayons, observing a badly drawn figure on what must have been a skateboard. Next to it by the stairs was a series of lines like the ones on the laundry room door frame that Itachi had measured Sasuke’s height with a marker each year on his brother’s birthday. He eagerly looked at the lowest mark. ‘5’ was written next to the line, a little higher, ‘6’, and so on until the one above ‘11’. It didn’t say his age, only ‘taller than Sasori’. He smiled fondly at the line, then turned to Sasori who was watching him. 

“You’ve known Deidara since he was five years old?” he asked. Sasori nodded once. “Do you have pictures of him as a child?”

“Why?”

Because I want to make a cake with them, Itachi thought irritably. That was something Deidara would say. Instead he just stared back at Sasori, playing the redhead’s game. He looked annoyed about it and Itachi almost smiled. “I think so,” Sasori replied, gesturing him into the hidden room behind his bookcase.

The room looked like a hospital room, or a doctor’s office. Everything was sterile as a hospital, metal and brightly lit. He wondered if Deidara went into the room willingly, but perhaps the room was obviously not a hospital just enough for the blond to be okay with it. Or trusted Sasori. Since he was five… 

“Deidara’s wound,” Sasori started, sticking up a black plastic sheet on one of the light trays hanging on the wall and turned it on. Pointing at the x-ray as Itachi came over to look. “Bullets shatter bones.” He pointed out the splintered crack on a few different ribs. 

“What’s that?” Itachi asked, after studying the x-ray of Deidara’s upper torso and back. He reached out to point to the area he was indicating to, part of the scapula and then at the humorous bone that looked different from their opposite twins.

“That is healed breaks,” Sasori replied. “Deidara may be the reigning champion of doing reckless things without getting hurt, but there are always accidents. I’m sure you’ve heard some of them. This break here on the scapula, as well as a cracked skull and broken clavicle you can’t see from this is from his attempt at flying. The break on the humorous is from a skateboard and car accident. This one is from falling from a fire escape.”

Itachi squinted at the last one on Deidara’s other arm near his elbow. “You can barely see that one,” he commented.

“Yes, well, that was from a long time ago,” Sasori said. “When he was eight. He tried to climb out to escape from Daichi to go back to his mother, the drop was higher than he anticipating.” Itachi blinked, turning to look at Sasori. Escape from Daichi? He had a feeling he had been told something like that happened, but it still seemed odd. Before he could formulate a question, Sasori had changed the subject. “It is impossible to cast rib bones, but he should be fine, so long as you are able to keep him relatively still.” He gave Itachi a ‘good luck with that’ sort of glance. “He will need extra care because of his hospital stay being cut short. Twice a day, wash the wound and don’t let him talk you out of it, he hates it. I’ll give you an antibiotic ointment to put under the bandage to prevent infections and I’ll give you better painkillers than the hospital sent him home with, though I don’t recommend leaving them in his care,” Sasori’s voice trailed off as he began talking as though he were speaking to himself as he examined the x-ray.

“Deidara is clean,” Itachi reminded him firmly.

“Never trust an addict,” Sasori replied, still sounding as though he were talking to himself. After a few moments, he went to the laptop on the desk and turned it on, then to a cabinet and pulled out a bottle of medicine which he portioned out and into an empty bottle, writing something on the label, then replaced the first and took out a small jar, which he set down next to the counter by the door. ‘with meals’ said the bottle, in handwriting so neat it looked fake. Itachi put the bottle and jar in his pocket, assuming they were for Deidara. “Get on the table,” he said, aloud and clear.

Itachi looked at the table in the middle of the room. There were restraints on them. “No,” he replied, sitting down in one of the chairs. “You had questions for me?”

The shorter man glowered at him for not obeying. “Why are you dating Deidara?” he questioned, walking over and thrusting a thermometer into his mouth. When Itachi reached up to take it out, Sasori raised an eyebrow at him. “I can stick it somewhere else.”

“I like him,” Itachi replied, leaving the thermometer in his mouth as Sasori checked his blood pressure. “Are you jealous?”

“Of course not,” Sasori stated dully, making a mote of what he was reading on a clipboard, then took the thermometer to write that down too. “I’m merely attempting to understand the unnatural situation.” His brown eyes bore into Itachi’s, but the Uchiha refused to look away. “Deidara sells himself in exchange for money and drugs. You are comfortable with that?”

“That isn’t your business,” Itachi replied calmly. “But no, I’m not. Deidara is clean, and it is a job.”

Sasori made a face at him, but continued to stare. “I could tell you stories about Deidara that would send you screaming,” Sasori said, his mouth twisting in a grin that made the hair on the back of Itachi’s neck stand on end. “Things he’s let people do to him. Things I’ve made easier for him to hide. Things he’s done.”

“I don’t want to hear them,” Itachi said, shortly and firmly. “If Deidara wants to tell me, then he can tell me. I don’t want to hear it if he doesn’t want me to know.”

Sasori gave a sniff, looking annoyed. “You’re not even the slightest bit curious?”

“People are allowed to have their secrets,” Itachi replied. “Do you have pictures of Deidara as a child?” Sasori made a face at him again, then turned and walked to a shelf with a few filing boxes on them and picked up a shoe box on the top shelf. “You may keep them.”

“You saved pictures?” Somehow that didn’t seem like something Sasori would do. He didn’t seem sentimental enough to have a shoebox of photos.

“I needed to see how he aged and grew,” Sasori replied bluntly. “Test subjects rarely are around for so long and my memory, though significant, isn’t as extraordinary as to remember so many details as that.”

“You don’t need them?” he asked, taking the box and opening it, seeing far more photos than he expected.

“I have made digital copies,” Sasori gestured to his computer. “What is the ratio of hospital visits to self-care that you experienced following your father’s abuse?”

Itachi almost dropped the box in his hand. “Excuse me?”

“You can’t have gone to the hospital every time,” Sasori stated. “What is the ratio of—”

“That’s none of your business,” Itachi interrupted, looking down at the box and picking out the first picture. It was a school photo, early elementary school. He remembered Deidara saying that his parents had dressed him like a girl to hide the truth and wondered if they’d done so at school as well. It was impossible to tell from the photo what uniform he was wearing, but there was no mistaking that huge, mischievous grin that showed off a few missing baby teeth.

“How many concussions have you had?”

“Why?”

“I want to know your medical history for my record keeping,” Sasori turned the paper over in his hands, showing a blank medical chart with his name written at the top. Itachi set his jaw, contemplating whether or not to answer him. “How many bones have you broken?”

“Six,” Itachi replied, shortly.

Sasori stared at him, waiting. Itachi stared back, silent.

“Which?”

Before Itachi could begin debating on whether or not to answer him, the doorbell rang upstairs. He blinked in surprise, but wasn’t as surprised as Sasori, who was so shocked he dropped his pen. The brown eyes darted up at the ceiling as if trying to x-ray the floor to see who dared disturb him. He muttered an insult that sounded as though he believed it was Deidara and gave a little cringe as though waiting for something. Itachi understood. Deidara would begin to ring the doorbell continuously until someone came to the door, but there was a few long moments of silence before it rang again, only once. Looking thoroughly perplexed – a state Itachi decided was rare for the man, Sasori set down his clipboard and stood to walk out of the room. Itachi hesitated, then stood to follow, turning to gaze longingly around at the artwork on the basement wall one more time before hurrying up the stairs.

It was his mother.

“Hello, Sasori,” she said pleasantly when he opened the door. “I’ve come to collect Itachi for dinner.” Her kind, dark eyes moved over the redhead and rested on him. “You are welcome to join us, if you’d like.”

Itachi couldn’t see Sasori’s face, but the way his shoulders drew up slightly made him think he was making a displeased face. “No, thank you,” he said, then stepped aside and gave Itachi his intense, mind boring stare.

“Thank you for the medicine,” Itachi said, slipping his shoes back on and stepping outside. The door was shut almost as soon as he had passed over the threshold, nearly slapping into his backside.

“Deidara asked me to come,” Mikoto said, her eyes concerned, but also curious at the shoe box in his hand. “He insisted Sasori was going to tie you down and dissect you if I didn’t stop him.” They walked back to her car and he sat in the passenger’s seat. “What did he want, really?” she asked, turning the car on.

“He wanted to ask me questions about…” he paused, swallowing and staring down at his knees. “Father. And my medical history.”

She was silent as she drove, but after several blocks, she reached down and placed her hand over his wrist and squeezed it. He knew that she guessed what those two topics referred to. He hadn’t talked to her about what had happened to him and she hadn’t pushed him to tell her. Gratefulness for his mother filled him. “He gave me pictures,” he told her to fill the silence and to change the subject. He opened the box again and pulled one out at random this time. Itachi had been wondering if Sasori had taken all the photos, but realized that he hadn’t taken this one at least, since he was in it. Deidara was older than the elementary school photo, but still very young, soaking wet and wearing swim trunks and holding a blue popsicle in his hand while he posed for the camera, showing off his very blue stained tongue. Itachi noticed with amusement that the blond was sporting a number of Band-Aids on his knees and forearm and wondered what sort of mischief he’d gotten into. Sasori was sitting in a chair in the background, looking thoroughly annoyed at being present, and also present, Itachi noticed, was a red haired Daichi, standing by the pool, grilling. Itachi smiled and showed the picture to his mother when they paused at stop light.

“Oh my,” she gushed, taking it from him to examine. She flipped it to the back and they both saw the date written on the back. “Nine years old,” she commented with fondness. “What a troublemaker. Can we look at them after dinner?”

“I’d like that,” Itachi agreed, taking the picture back and returning it to his place. He wondered if Deidara would like them or be embarrassed about them. He would probably be able to tell them stories from the times they were taken and the blond certainly loved telling stories. When they pulled up to the house, Deidara was waiting for them, hugging his duffle bag and chewing on the straw of his empty milkshake. He looked ready to lay it on him and Itachi sighed as his mother turned the car off, carefully cradling the precious box of memories and stepped out to receive his lecture.


	30. Chapter 30

“I want to race.”

Never before would he have ever imagined that someone could be so persistent. If someone had told him such a person existed, he would not have believed them. Deidara defied any and all classifications of normal to the point of being ridiculous. The whole afternoon after they learned of the race event that night, all Itachi heard was about Deidara racing. Patiently, Itachi continued to remind him in his gentle voice that he had been in the hospital not a week ago from a gunshot wound and racing with no value for your own life on a motorcycle was not the greatest idea in the world. The blond reminded Itachi that he had been through much worse after all and still had raced, which Itachi only sighed and forced him back into bed with the lure of video games and cuddles. The time off Professor Williams had given him had been spent with Deidara, or at least within yelling distance. His professors had been understanding of his situation and allowed him to do his work remotely and email them his finished work, but this made his workload doubled because of the extra research he had to do. Deidara didn’t like this at all and did his best to distract him until Itachi lost his usually large amount of patience and snapped at him to let him work. Deidara had stared at him than stormed away and watched TV on the sofa and wouldn’t speak to him for half a day. Itachi felt guilty, but didn’t apologize and finished nearly all his work by the time Deidara came shuffling back into the room after the next lunch and tucked himself behind Itachi on his chair and rest his head on the back of Itachi’s shoulder in apologetic silence while he work.

Tonight was their first night out since they arrived home and Deidara was certainly jumping the gun with his healing abilities. Even in the ride over to the meeting place he talked about his racing tactics he was planning on using, but Itachi was putting his full trust in one particular person to put a stop to this reckless nature and wasn’t disappointed.

“Absolutely not,” Daichi said dismissively and took another sip from his water bottle. Conversation over. No arguing.

Itachi tried hard not to be immature and give Deidara a smug look as the blond tried to argue, but was met with a hard glare that shut the blond up almost instantly. He gently took the blond’s arm and steered him away from the others in hopes of calming him down.

“This fucking pisses me off,” Deidara fumed.

“I know,” Itachi murmured consolingly, though he was still pleased Daichi stopped him. “But, Deidara, you’re way too eager. You’ll hurt yourself again.”

“I’d be fine, un,” Deidara’s grumbling became muffled when Itachi gave him a gentle but squashing hug. The blond let his head fall back and sent his aggravated groans to the heavens dramatically.

“I know you would,” Itachi assured him, though it was a lie. Deidara tended to respond best to praise, so Itachi would continue to feed his ego while slowly rubbing his crazy ideas down to normal human capacity. “I couldn’t watch you race tonight. Who would restart my heart if you hurt yourself?”

Deidara let out a bark of laughter that shook his frame as Itachi smiled and finally let go of the blond. “Well, I’m at least going to get hammered,” Deidara exclaimed stalking over to the drinks.

“I don’t think—”

“Don’t care.”

“But you’re on medica—”

“You try and stop me, un.”

Itachi gave a distressed exhale as the blond stomped over to the drinks and demanded alcohol. He watched him drink it, and then a few more, too fast, but the blond kept moving away from him every time he tried to stop him. When the blond ran out of cash, he returned willingly to Itachi’s side, if only to give him a pitiful look that meant he wanted to be bought another drink. “I think you drank enough in the last fifteen minutes to last you a month,” Itachi stated disapprovingly.

“No way,” Deidara laughed. He always laughed when he was drunk. Everything was so funny in Deidara’s head. “Hey~” he stood up on his toes to rest his chin on Itachi’s shoulder. “How about I watch you race, un~”

“I’d rather not,” Itachi smiled down at him as he gave him a shocked look. “I’d rather watch over you. Who knows what you’d get into after drinking this much, on medication,” he glared at him, “and all these assholes around?”

“Oooh!” Deidara crooned in a knowing voice, egged on by the alcohol. “Wouldn’t want you to go all postal on everyone out of jealousy, un.”

“I’m not jealous. I don’t need to be,” Itachi stated, giving Deidara a look.

“Oooh!” the blond exclaimed even louder. “So confident.” He giggled and wrapped his arms around Itachi’s torso. “Itachi,” he whined. “I’m still thirsty.”

“I told you, you had enough,” Itachi replied.

“Just one more?” the blond begged. “Pleeeeease buy me one more?”

“Am I here for my wallet then?” Itachi teased, smiling at the pout that instantly crossed the blond’s face to show he wasn’t being serious.

“You better be, un!” he said, the pout turning a Cheshire cat grin. “You don’t want me trying to get other people to buy me drinks.”

Itachi scowled a little, but rolled his eyes and handed him a few bills. The blond cheered happily and went to get another drink, thankfully drinking this one much slower. “You be careful,” Itachi insisted, when the blond stumbled back to him. “Your medicine could intera—”

“Stuff it, Itachi,” Deidara scowled at him, though drunk scowling on Deidara’s face still looked rather like a pout. “No one lets me do anything, un! I can’t race, I can’t skateboard. You wont even kiss me as much – I miss your dick, Itachi!” He said the last part much too loudly and several people laughed as Itachi’s face heated up and he shushed the blond which really only made it worse as the blond continued to proclaim other things he missed Itachi doing to him, so he wrapped his arm around the blond’s head and steered him away to distract and silence him.

They found a few games of betting, which Deidara threw himself into at once. Itachi tried to stop him, but Deidara had already wrestled his wallet from him and was betting on the drivers of those racing – there were car and motorcycle racing going on. Itachi wasn’t pleased the blond was betting his money away, but to his surprise Deidara won four times in a row before the blond got bored and returned Itachi’s much fuller wallet to him. Impressed, he asked if he wanted to keep going, but a voice from behind stopped the blond from answering.

“Let him stop when he wants to, or he’ll drain you out of spite.”

Itachi turned and looked at the man standing behind them. He hadn’t seen or heard him approach. “Do you know from exper—”

“No! Go away, Sasori!” Deidara interrupted, flinging his arms out in front of Itachi as if to act as a barricade between himself and the other man. “You can’t have Itachi, he’s mine,” he added, his arms going back to wrap around Itachi possessively. Itachi couldn’t help the grin that broke onto his face. He gave the blond an affectionate pat on the head and the blond turned to lean happily against him.

Sasori looked slightly revolted. “I’m not here to take Itachi away,” he stated, narrowing his eyes as he looked the blond up and down.

“Then what do you want, un?” the blond demanded, taking a step closer to him, losing his balance and grabbing onto the redhead for support. Sometimes, Itachi could see how people could get the wrong idea about Deidara’s intentions and was even more grateful he hadn’t left him to go race. Sasori’s eye twitched angrily and the Uchiha hurriedly righted Deidara against in case the redhead decided to kill him for touching him. Still scowling, Sasori adjusted his clothes and gave the blond another once over. Itachi suspected he had come to make sure Deidara didn’t do something stupid and hurt himself. A kind gesture. If such a thing could be applied to Sasori.

“You’ve drunk a lot,” the redhead commented.

“Shut up,” Deidara said, and began attempting to climb up onto Itachi’s back. A difficult task since he was drunk and Itachi was taller and amused at his failures so he wasn’t helping.

“Good thing you used my medicine instead of the hospitals,” the redhead commented, almost under his breath.

Before the conversation could continue and Deidara had only managed to hook an arm and a leg around Itachi’s torso, Daichi approached with his hands loosely stuffed in his pockets, a white lollipop stick between his lips. The two older men shared a short nod of greeting before Daichi reached up and took the candy from his mouth. “Time to move,” he said. “Different location.”

The calm, but serious tone of his voice sent Itachi’s system up in alarm. Were the cops on the way? Was there already someone here? Was he going to get arrested? Did he care? He paused in his mental panic to think about that for a moment, then took a breath. It was still hard for him to imagine himself at home without worrying about his father being there and finding out what he was doing. He never cared what his father thought of his love of fast cars, but the panic of what he would do when he found out what he was doing and who he was with still had a way of terrorizing him and he hated it. His mother probably would be concerned, but not angry if he called her from the police station. However, he didn’t want to get arrested while on this special leave from school. Doing something illegal while in law school didn’t seem like the best idea in the world. He glanced back at Deidara who had paused to listen to what Daichi said, then continued his attempt to ride piggyback. Not concerned. Daichi’s statement wasn’t one for panic, but caution.

“Where are we going?” Itachi asked, finally giving the blond a hand and hoisted him the rest of the way up. The blond made a happy noise in his ear and wrapped his arms around him. Dating Deidara, who worked his hardest to be on the wrong side of the law also wasn’t the best idea in the world when in law school but that was something he had no intention of changing.

“The mountain side where Deidara first saw you drifting,” Daichi said, with an upturn of his lip. “Less racing, more of a hang out there.”

“Sweet!” Deidara said, sliding off Itachi’s back and started walking back to the car. “Let’s blow this joint, un! I’m driving!”

“No, you are not,” Itachi said firmly, stalking after the blond leaving Daichi chuckling and Sasori, as usual, staring.

They argued by the car – and arguing with a drunk Deidara was not the easiest thing in the world to do, until Deidara exclaimed angrily that if Itachi didn’t let him drive he’d break up with him. Itachi had only raised an eyebrow skeptically at him, but after the blond’s brain caught up with what he said, he comically broke down and begged Itachi not to break up with him, insisting that he wasn’t being serious.

“I wouldn’t break up with you when you’re drunk anyway,” Itachi commented, a little amused.

“I am never going to be sober again, un!” Deidara insisted, with a grand gesture. “Does your mom allow alcohol in the house?”

“Deidara, I’m not breaking up with you,” he told him.

“Thank god,” the blond sighed heavily in relief and went to the passenger side of Itachi’s car that he and one of the guys from the garage went to fetch from the school and waited patiently to be let in.

With a shake of his head, he let him in then climbed into the driver’s seat. He followed the line of cars heading out of the parking structure and back onto the city streets. Next to him, the blond turned the radio on and found a station he liked so he could sing along out the window he had rolled down so he could stick his head out the window and feel the wind. Itachi told him he looked like a dog, which made Deidara stop singing so he could throw his head back and howl, which made Itachi laugh. He knew it wasn’t good to encourage drinking, but Deidara was unbelievably adorable when he was drunk – when he wasn’t completely annoying. As he watched him from the corner of his eye, he realized this was the first time in a while that the two of them had been alone together. At his dorm and at night in the hospital wasn’t the same. Deidara’s apartment had always been a place for them to have time alone and not worry about someone hearing them or walking in on them. He missed having a quiet space to spend time with him alone.

Making a decision, he pulled down a different street and left the line of familiar cars heading to the mountain. He noticed a few heads turning in question, but continued on their way. Deidara’s own head turned to look back at the cars they left, then at Itachi in confusion. “Are you kidnapping me?” he asked, so serious Itachi chuckled a little.

“I don’t think it’s kidnapping if the kidnapped likes it,” Itachi replied, driving until he found a quiet spot to park in the shadow of a building and turned the car off. He leaned back against his seat, feeling it give just a little before catching its latch and holding his weight. He gazed up at the roof of his car, seeing the indents of fingers pressed so heavily into the soft foam that they stayed imprinted long after the passion ended. A small grin crossed his lips at the memory and he turned his head to look over at Deidara who was drawing on his converses with a sharpie, singing along with the radio again. Knowing the blond didn’t value the drunken art on his shoes very highly, Itachi didn’t feel bad interrupting him by tugging the blond – who as usual hadn’t buckled his seatbelt – over onto his lap. With a soft grunt, he fumbled with the latch to shift the seat back so they would both fit between his seat and the steering wheel. Deidara had yelped in surprise and dropped the sharpie to the abyss of the car floor where Itachi would find and return it when he next cleaned his car.

Deidara stared sadly down where the sharpie had disappeared, then jerked his head around to look at Itachi. “Hi,” he said in an adorable tone that only happy drunks could give.

“Hi there,” Itachi replied, cuddling Deidara close to him and planted a soft kiss on his shoulder. “You saved my life, Dei… I could have been shot, but you pushed me out of the way.”

The thin body in his arms arched slightly as Deidara sat up straighter, beaming with pride. “Well, I’m just amazing like that, un!” he informed him, punching the air victoriously and slamming his hand on the ceiling and letting a stream of curses fall out of his mouth. Itachi hid his grin by giving his shoulder another kiss, then his hand when Deidara lifted it to show him the injury. There really was no point in talking the blond when he was this drunk. He wouldn’t remember anything, nor would he give any insightful replies. No, for now, he wanted a few moments alone with him, holding him in his lap while the blond happily sang along to the radio, pausing to begin chattering about nonsense or cars or plans for the end of the world.

Several weeks later, Itachi sat in the silent courtroom audience, listening and watching. Courtrooms were formal and traditional. Two things Itachi had been raised on, these were things he was learning in school. He had never second guessed those things before he met Deidara. He never second guessed laws and regulations. He had been a robot to the teachings of his superiors until Deidara taught him that life could be enjoyed and not just lived. That the law was not always black and white. The blond sat next to him on his right, his mother on his left and Sasuke next to her. His brother kept shooting him sideways glances and knew that the teenager wanted to sit next to him, but their mother had insisted on sitting next to both of them and Deidara, he felt, might need some reminders to be calm.

This was the first time he had seen his father in person since the morning he had nearly beaten him to death for sneaking a boy in his room. Over a year and a half. Though he didn’t want to, his eyes kept drifting back to his father, memories of that morning coming back to him. His arm hurt from the memory. His hand ached. Memories of years of pain. Of anger. How angry was his father at what he had done? Sasuke voice floated back to him when he overheard his brother making a comment about it to Deidara and him over their breakfast. It’s not you, it’s Deidara, he had said. He hadn’t turned his father in, Deidara had. Sasuke had backed him up. He glanced sideways at his once scared little brother and smiled. Not so little, not so scared anymore. The better of both of them, Itachi decided.

Behind them in the crowded courtroom, he felt the eyes of many Uchihas on his back. The eyes of police officers who still respected and praised Fugaku Uchiha. Those who refused to believe the first accusations. How could such a respectable man who devoted everything he had to protecting the city spend his time at home beating his eldest son? How could such a law abiding man plot to murder the teenager who had accused him? Burn a building down? Murder children? Impossible. The Uchihas behind him may not believe the accusations, but they wouldn’t step up to help him or hinder him. Being found guilty was a sham on the Uchiha name. It was an old and respectable name and did not take kindly to blemishes. There were also many people from the garage there, no doubt reporting for Daichi or just seeing the outcome. Deidara hadn’t wanted to come and Itachi could feel his tense nervousness next to him. He sat next to him slumped in his seat, leg bouncing, fingering the pack of cigarettes in his pocket, playing with the fidget pendant Itachi had gotten him for Christmas. He clearly wanted to bolt out of the room.

He didn’t. Itachi gave a small smile, wanting to reach over and squeeze his leg to show how much he appreciate that he was staying, but he found himself transfixed and still in his own seat. Instead, Mikoto’s hand reached over to take his, her fingers gently prying his fingers apart from their white knuckled fist and stroked the back of his hand with her thumb. They listened to the lawyers, debating and calling witnesses. Itachi was surprised that Deidara hadn’t been requested as a witness; he had sat with the lawyer in his mother’s dining room and described the car and license plate that had followed him home and had been seen outside the apartment before the fire. He had also described the threat he had received from Fugaku’s old partner on Christmas Eve – Itachi had scowled bad tempered when he discovered Deidara had indeed been holding out on him regarding what the officer had said, but decided it wasn’t worth it. Still, they had taken the blond’s testimony, but hadn’t called him for a witness. Odd, though perhaps the lawyers thought Deidara’s position in society might hinder their argument. Shisui had been called to the stand by Fugaku’s defense and, despite the steely looks from Fugaku and the other Uchiha’s, avoided the leading questions given by his uncle’s lawyer and described the way Fugaku and three other officers, including Fugaku’s old partner had come to him and painted a lie that he had followed, had been given a gun that he had been told was false and was accidentally fired. By the reaction of the lawyers, Shisui was supposed to have backed Fugaku up, but instead he had turned on against his own family. No one but an Uchiha would understand that was what he was doing. Their family had so much pride and honor, if something was to be done, it was done internally, not out in the open like this. More than once while being questioned, his cousin found him in the crowded audience, but wouldn’t meet his gaze entirely, giving him a sad look before dropping his eyes to the speckled marble floor the instant he saw Itachi looking at him. Itachi hadn’t spoken to his cousin since Deidara had been shot and made up his mind to do so later. What would he say to him? What—

All thoughts of Shisui stopped when a head turned to look at him from the front of the room. His father’s features were calm and unconcerned, but Itachi knew better. That tight line at his mouth, the slight narrowing of his eyes, the sharpness in his glance. He was furious. It took all of Itachi’s willpower not to cringe before the gaze as though he were a little boy again, envisioning the beating he knew would come with those features. He had received that look the first time Deidara had been found in the house. Itachi had thought that his father discovering he had been sneaking the blond in his bed at night was the highest peak of his anger. This moment was beyond that. If they were alone, he would fear for his life. Terror rose in him, but he suddenly noticed that the man was not looking at him.

Next to him, Deidara had bristled when he noticed Fugaku’s gaze. He was not afraid though. Not Deidara. His fidgeting stopped and his arrogant smirk was small and hard to notice, but it welcomed Fugaku’s silent threat with mischievous glee. Accepting the challenge of another attempt at his life. Deidara’s arrogance strengthened Itachi’s bravery. His posture became even straighter, drawing his father’s eye to him instead of the blond and put his arm possessively around the blond’s shoulder. His father’s expression changed to disgust at the obvious violation of Fugaku’s Standards of Uchiha as Deidara followed Itachi’s lead, though misunderstanding the brunette’s intent, leaning against him with a smile Itachi could just see by the sudden plumping of his cheeks. Itachi had intended a gesture of ‘don’t you date touch my boyfriend again’, but he smiled fondly at the blond and gave him a tighter hug.

Safely between his mother and boyfriend, he had half a mind to smother the blond with kisses just to taunt his father more, but Mikoto had leaned forward suddenly. He looked at his mother and started. Her expression was fiery as she noticed her ex-husband looking at her son and seeing her expression, Fugaku had quickly retreated, turning around to face the court again. On her other side, Sasuke gave Itachi a significant look towards their terrifying mother with a grin that Itachi returned with a small smile.

Finally, the judge called for a recess. Deidara had a cigarette out and was leaping over the three Uchihas to bolt out the door to seek the comfort of nicotine. Seeing his mother’s curious expression, Itachi offered an explanation, “police and courtrooms make him nervous.”

“I see,” she replied with an understanding smile. “Are you going with him?”

“In a moment,” he said, keeping his eyes from looking over at his father, despite the fact that he could feel their weight on him. “Are you alright?”

“Of course.”

“Mom,” he said, softer this time. “Are you alright?”

Lifting her head up, she looked at his concerned face, her brown eyes meeting his darker ones. Of course she wasn’t alright. He had been worried about Deidara and school, but he hadn’t stopped to think about her. How selfish of him. The whole time he had kept it covered up from her, not letting his mother know what his father had been doing. He had thought it would keep her happy to not know, and now he realized how childish that had been. She was furious with his father because she loved her sons more than anything and their happiness made her happy. He was worried she was upset with him, but perhaps the only thing she was upset about was that he hadn’t believed she would support him if he told her. But there was a smile on her face as she reached up to brush his lengthening bangs off his forehead and planted a tender kiss on the exposed skin.

“Yes, sweetheart,” she said, more earnestly. “I love you very much. You don’t have to worry about me.” She turned to face forward again, catching Sasuke making a rude gesture at their father who had been watching them. “Sasuke!” she scolded, giving his hand a chiding, but light slap. “I don’t care how angry you are at him; that is rude.”

Itachi gave his brother a half smile and stood, saying he was going to check on Deidara. Mikoto reminded him not to be late when he came back and he nodded, hurrying from the room because it appeared as though relatives wanted to speak to him. “Hey,” he said, wrapping his arms around Deidara from behind when he spotted him near the smoking section outside. The wallet chain dangling on the thing waist jingled slightly as Deidara leaned back against him, welcoming his embrace. Thanks to his mother and forceful bedrest, Deidara had put on some weight and it didn’t feel as though he would break if he squeezed him too hard – something he knew would absolutely not happen, Deidara was much stronger than he expected. “Feel better?”

“Yeah,” Deidara sighed, tilting his head back against his shoulder to blow a thin trail of smoke into the air. “It’s too damn stuffy in there, un.” He offered his cigarette to Itachi, who took a small swig and exhaled it out as well, though not as skillfully as Deidara.

“Can I have a cigarette?”

“Absolutely not,” Itachi said firmly to Sasuke who had come up next to them. “You are underage and it is very bad for you.”

Sasuke gave him an unhappy look, about to complain that Itachi had just taken some of Deidara’s cigarette, but one of the other mechanics that worked for Daichi suddenly stubbed out his cigarette. “Uchiha’s fucked,” he stated, looking pleased. Several people nodded and began commenting on various topics that had been brought up during the trial. Sasuke stepped closer, trying not to look eager to be included by his brother’s street savoir faire friends he found so fascinating.

Itachi didn’t join in, but stood holding Deidara against him and staring at nothing, or glancing at Sasuke. He didn’t know how he felt. Relief. Apprehension. Nothing. His life was flipped around now, though it had been hard to notice because he’d been away from home. He no longer had to worry about Sasuke being hurt by his father when he was away, that was something he had been silently worried about as Sasuke entered high school. Fugaku had been given a chance with his appeal, but if he was convicted now it would be a long time before he had the chance to do again. Unlike Sasuke, Deidara was still in danger, but he was sure it would be a while before Fugaku was able to try again. Hopefully. Despite all the evidence against his father, something could go wrong and unexpected. His studies at university taught him that. He might—No, he couldn’t think about that. His hold on Deidara tightened. If his father walked, Deidara could be taken away, injured or even killed. Perhaps his father would take revenge on Itachi out on both Deidara and Sasuke. He almost lost Deidara to Fugaku once; Sasori was right, Deidara had too much luck for one person. If he hurt Sasuke—

“Itachi,” Deidara’s strained voice snapped him out of his thoughts, looking down in alarm. His arms were too tight around him, squeezing the breath out of him and his recently healed ribs.

“Sorry,” Itachi said, hurriedly loosening his grip.

Deidara looked up at him with eyes that always startled Itachi. So young, so old, so immature, so knowledgeable. Deidara was the walking contradiction he always strove to be without trying. Those blue eyes were listening to what they saw, not judging, merely looking and reading him, better than his teachers could in his classes on profiling. Those people studied to read people, Deidara had to do it to survive. After only half a second of his looking, he spoke, “I’m alright Itachi,” his lips turning up just slightly. “He won’t get out of this. He hurt me again.”

Damn. Way better than his teachers. Or maybe it was just obvious. “He could,” he replied in a very quiet whisper.

“I’ll be ready,” Deidara replied with such a sadistic grin on his face that Itachi felt a part of him grow cold. He had such confidence. It would be his downfall. The others around them gave indications of agreement. They had lost family and friends to Fugaku. They would all be ready.

“Deidara, you—”

“Let’s go somewhere,” Deidara suggested, stepping away from him with his hands tucked into his back pocket, rocking back onto his heels. “Let’s go do something fun, un. We don’t have to watch the end.”

“No, I want to,” Itachi told him firmly.

“Didn’t Daichi ask you to report for him?” one of the other mechanics asked with a grin.

“Oh, I’m sorry, do you not know how communicate words to people yourself?” Deidara snapped at him.

“I can tell Daichi,” Sasuke offered, grinning a little. Itachi had still managed to keep him from the garage and Deidara wasn’t forthcoming with its location, just as he hadn’t been at first to Itachi.

Itachi reached out and planted his hand on top of his little brother’s head, messing up his hair. “You don’t have to because Deidara’s going to tell Daichi himself,” he told him, giving him a smile when Sasuke gave him an annoyed look that was no better than a pout. Itachi turned to Deidara, who looked disappointed. “I know you’re uncomfortable, I’m sorry, but I missed his trial last time. I want the assurance that he’s going to jail. I can’t hear it from someone, I have to see it. It’ll make me feel better.”

With a sigh, Deidara ran his fingers through his hair to rough it up in a characteristic gesture. “Alright, let’s hurry so we won’t be late, un.”

“One account of attempted murder in the first degree.”

“Guilty.”

“One account of arson.”

“Guilty.”

“Six accounts of murder in the second degree.”

“Guilty.”

“One account conspiracy to murder.”

“Guilty.”

Itachi felt himself deflating as his anxiety left him and he was able to breathe again. Everything would be fine now. His family was safe. His friends would be safe. Deidara would be safe. His father was getting taken away when he looked up again, but the older Uchiha turned, finding Itachi in the crowd. Every hair on his body stood on end. Every nerve revolting against his willpower not to react, screaming danger, wailing to run. Itachi had destroyed their family, shamed the Uchiha name. Fugaku Uchiha was the head of that family. It was wrong to go against him. Him. His own father. His own father. He should be punished, he should be. He deserved it. But he did the right thing. Fugaku couldn’t be free. But he was so angry. He could hurt Sasuke. He could hurt his mother. He could—

His father’s piercing eyes were blocked, the moment of fear lasting only seconds. Instead he was staring at the back of an old, worn leather motorcycle jacket, blond hair swishing to rest just passed his waist. His eyes rose to stare at the back of Deidara’s head as the younger man stared down death for him instead.

There were pissed off cops everywhere. Deidara head was throbbing from the bitter stares from behind him, but he refused to acknowledge them, knowing better than to stir up trouble in a court house.  
Uchiha being found guilty didn’t stop people from being angry at Deidara. Maybe he was guilty for the attempt on his life, but the fire? The abuse? Who was to say this wasn’t fabricated? He should be the one to pay. The one Uchiha hated. The vandalizer, the drug dealer and addict, the whore, the trespasser. Since the trial began and Deidara was – by his own reckoning – well enough to leave the sanctuary of Mikoto’s house, he had been arrested four times for suspected drug possession, twice for vandalizing, once for trespassing – the only one of the accusations to be true, but the homeowner who had called the police dropped the charges when Deidara explained he had only been taking a short cut through his yard and stopped to rest from his still aching chest. The others had no evidence and he was released. Deidara was not afraid of the police. Fear was a necessary feeling for survival, but so was reason. Deidara’s methods of reasoning was more abnormal than most, but he preferred reason and calculations to being afraid. He wasn’t scared of anything, but a cage. The cage itself, not the people who built it, not the people who could put him in there. People made errors. They could be talked down, buttered up. They were ruled by emotions and it made them make mistakes. Mistakes Deidara watched for and took advantage of.

He did not want to be there, and refused to turn and look at the cops. Instead he eyed the testimonies, watched the jury’s reactions. Daichi had wanted him there, even though others were coming already, to watch, to listen, to report. Deidara had the best memory, Daichi had stated when others had offered. Ego stroked, he had gone. A fly on the wall in the home of hungry frogs. The trial had taken a long time. Many, many weeks of it. Itachi couldn’t come down for all of them, though he tried, and Sasuke started asking Deidara the best ways to sneak out of school undetected so he could go too even though it was pointless because Mikoto was present for all of them as well.

He wished Itachi hadn’t turned down his offer to ditch. He didn’t understand why Itachi wanted to stay, but it seemed the fear Uchiha had over his eldest was stronger than Itachi let on. Deidara had always assumed that he enjoyed pushing his buttons just like Deidara did, but it was only a face. He was terrified of his father, of the pain he could inflict, fearing for his brother and mother and, he supposed, himself. He had continued to be extremely gentle with the blond even after Deidara started working at Daichi’s again, the sudden tightness of Itachi’s arms alerted Deidara to the turmoil the brunette was having. He tried to get them away, but Itachi wanted to hear the outcome. Itachi wanted him there, his finger looped subtly around the chain of Deidara’s wallet as they sat. So Deidara stayed.

Anger seemed to shoot passed him like a bullet, startling him out of his staring as one of the jurors picked their nose. He thought he imagined it, but Itachi suddenly tensed, showing it wasn’t. Uchiha was glaring at Itachi with the intensity of a broken and raging dam, blaming his son – not Deidara, for his sentence. Gripping the wood of the bench in front of him with a pathetic sounding creak, Deidara pulled himself to his feet. The movement put himself between Itachi and Uchiha. His eyes were sharp, defiant and unafraid. Uchiha looked slightly startled, but recovered quickly and gave him an equally dark look. The man had been chasing him for years. He had won. Uchiha lost. He gave the man one last smirk before turning his back to him and facing Itachi. The brunette stared up at him with the same expression Sasuke had on his face when Deidara found him hiding from his father in his closet. It didn’t suit Itachi. Mikoto had stood up as well, her glare far more intense than Uchiha’s had. She would kill him if he came near her sons again, Deidara was quite certain. She didn’t even stop Sasuke from giving his father both his middle fingers.

“Satisfied?” he asked Itachi, pretending he hadn’t seen Itachi’s terror. Acting like everything was normal no matter what was a great skill of his. “Can we go now?”

“Yes,” Mikoto answered for Itachi, placing her hand on Sasuke and Deidara’s shoulder to steer them towards the aisle. She paused, looking down at Itachi, who quickly recovered and stood up again, his face a blank mask. He nodded and the four of them walked out.

There were reporters outside who swarmed when they stepped out, shouting questions to the three Uchiha’s. Their voices overlapped, growing loud and irritating. Itachi had stopped so suddenly that Deidara, following him had run into him. The two brothers looked at Deidara as their mother began answering questions coolly and the blond nodded for them to retrace their steps. When they reached the doors, he took them down the other side to where his friends had parked their cars.

He waved to Takeru who was pulling his mustang out of the parking lot with the top down, music pulsing. The big man paused, looking curious and Deidara clambered into the car without opening the door. “Need a lift,” Deidara explained. “Reporters.”

“Leeches,” Takeru corrected, waiting for the brothers to climb into the back before peeling out onto the main street. A reporter noticed them and pointed, but whatever his flapping mouth said was lost in the noise of the engine.

They rode in silence, Deidara’s hair whipped wildly in the open air and he pulled a hair tie off his wrist to control it. He had the sense that Itachi and Sasuke were talking in the back seat, but the wind took their words away too. Bastard, Deidara thought to himself, thinking of Uchiha, a pride brimming off knowing he had taken part in his downfall. He glanced at the side mirror and noticed he could see part of Sasuke behind him. He was facing his brother, mouth moving. Deidara pulled out his phone and text Mikoto to tell her that he had both brothers and they had snuck off to avoid reporters. He put his phone away, then pulled it out again instantly, adding that he would let her know where they went when they got there – she had scolded him a lot for not telling her where he had gone when he snuck out during his stay at her house.

He stretched his legs out in front of him and heaved a sigh.

Takeru tapped his leg – thigh. He bristled, but it wasn’t an inappropriate touch, just getting his attention. He gave him an inquisitive look to ask where they were going without turning the radio down. The blond thought for a moment, but his phone buzzed and distracted him. Daichi had sent him a question mark. A man of many words.

‘Sasukes with me’

A pause.

‘You can bring him, too.’

Deidara grinned a little. That would distract the younger Uchiha. He’d finally stop riding Deidara’s ass about it. “Daichi’s,” he said, not raising his voice above the music and wind. He didn’t need to. Takeru either read his lips or knew where they’d go – Deidara had been instructed to inform Daichi in front of everyone after all – and he adjusted course. It took a few turns before Itachi reached forward to tap his shoulder, he realized where they were going and gestured to his brother, not wanting to shout over the music and wind. Deidara smirked. Itachi looked a little queasy, but sat back in acceptance.

Sasuke realized where they were as they got out of the car, but seemed to be working very hard to control his excitement. His control wasn’t as good as Itachi’s was when he was excited, but he managed to walk normally with eager eyes and an anticipatory grin. Daichi came to the open garage door to greet them, wearing stained coveralls instead of his usual jeans and t-shirt – must be a dirty job. He nodded to all three, then gave Sasuke a stern look and reminded him that this garage and its inhabitants were not to be discussed outside of the garage for the safety of those who lived there and were rebuilding their lives. Sasuke told him he understood and they went inside, the younger Uchiha giving his brother a huge grin.

Deidara smirked at them then followed Daichi back to the car he’d been working on and clambered up to stretch out on the roof, swinging his legs over his head. He watched Itachi give his brother a brief tour from where they stood a few feet away, but felt like something wasn’t all well. Granted, it was never all is well with Itachi. He was such a killjoy sometimes. At Daichi’s quiet, “well?” as he returned to working on the car, Deidara launched into a recount of the trial today, reciting opening statements and testimonies, arguments and closing statements. When he was done, the two brothers were standing nearby looking startled.

He concluded with the list of verdicts and Sasuke gave a slight whistle. “You’re like a human tape recorder,” he commented.

“That’s why I always send him,” Daichi said with a small smile, setting the tool he had been using down on the table and closing the hood of the car. “Thanks, Dei.”

“No problem,” Deidara replied, propping his head up in his hand. He was getting paid at least, this wasn’t a favor.

The mechanic turned to face the brothers, giving Sasuke an assessing look, but it wasn’t unfriendly. “Can you drive yet?” he asked.

Itachi tensed only slightly, but the other two didn’t seem to notice. “No,” Sasuke grumbled, giving his brother a look. “Itachi said he’d teach me, but hasn’t had time. Deidara offered to teach me to drift, but mom said it should be Itachi.”

Deidara had done no such thing and tried to communicate that with Itachi who had given him a sharp look. What a liar. Sasuke had complained he had wanted to drive when the blond had talked about a trip to a real race track he’d taken with a few others and asked Deidara, but the blond had told him no. Itachi had wanted to teach him.

This Daichi had noticed and he gave a chuckle. “Would you like to see my collection here?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Sasuke said eagerly, taking a step to follow him.

Itachi started to as well, following his brother like the protective shadow he was, but Deidara hopped down and stopped him. As soon as Sasuke was away, that closed, doomed look came in his eyes again, but he gave the blond a small smile. “Planning on recruiting him, too?” he asked.

“No way,” Deidara stated, nudging Itachi towards the door to the bunk room and not the cars. “And I didn’t offer to teach him to drive, un,” he added, glaring over his shoulders.

“I know you didn’t,” Itachi said, his expression softening a little. “Sasuke wants me to teach him. It was his way of reminding me that I haven’t yet.”

They walked into the bathroom, Itachi following without really paying attention. Something was definitely not all well. Deidara hated when things weren’t all well. Couldn’t he just be happy his shitty father was in prison? He reached up to give Itachi’s forehead a prod, but since it was one of Itachi’s favorite gestures, he expertly dodged it. “Everything’s cool now, un,” he said, grinning mischievously. 

“I know,” Itachi murmured, his voice dropping as though he worried Sasuke would hear the doubt in his voice. Always looking out for his brother this one. Itachi’s eyes lifted from the floor and watched Deidara’s shirt come off his body. “I think I just…” hair tie came loose, shoes kicked off, “have to get—what are you doing?”

Deidara’s laugh echoed a little in the tiled room. The power of naked flesh. “Taking a shower,” he stated obviously. “Join me?”

“Okay.”

He turned the water in a stall on and stood on his toes to slide his arms around Itachi’s neck, smirking a little. “Undo my pants,” he crooned, chewing gently on his own lip as he smirked up at the brunette. Was he using low methods to distract him? Of course. Deidara loved dishing things out below the belt.

And it worked. Itachi slipped his belt free, dropping it carelessly on the floor with a loud clatter, moving to his pants button and zipper. Before he could push his pant down, Deidara gave him a light bump with his hips that broke the contact between them, not giving Itachi what he wanted so easily. Itachi gave him a look for it, but Deidara only smirked again and stepped under the shower stream, watching Itachi as his hair began matting with the water, jeans darkening. He knew it made Itachi uneasy to think about how he had developed the skills to turn a person on with a small gesture, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t use his powers on him. Itachi was undressed and under the stream with him before the top layer of his hair was fully damp.

“Hey,” he greeted, leaning back against the cold tile wall as Itachi tried to lean in and kiss him.

“You’re such a damn tease,” he muttered darkly to him, his hand latching onto Deidara’s wrist to hold him still. “Stop running—hey!” Deidara grinned as Itachi slammed his knee between his legs to stop him from sliding down the wall away from him down to the floor. It must have hurt, but Itachi’s expression didn’t change. Instead of standing upright again, Deidara began slowly grinding his hips against Itachi’s leg, his jeans uncomfortably tight over his body from the water.

Pleasuring himself wasn’t something he did often. On request, perhaps, but for all his selfishness and eccentric actions, Deidara didn’t like giving himself into pleasure. He preferred to focus on his partner instead, their pleasure. Itachi noticed. He noticed everything, the bastard. Every little detail. Deidara was good at noticing little things too, but using them to manipulate people at his will. Itachi was different. He noticed things and made a person an individual, knowing how to tread around them to make them comfortable. There wasn’t much he did that Itachi missed. After two times of pushing Itachi’s hand, seeking to share pleasure, away during sex early on, Itachi had left him alone. He never brought it up, respecting Deidara’s discomfort, but also probably using all those psychology classes he was taking to make his own assumptions. Deidara sighed inwardly, making a mental note to get over himself and let Itachi in more often.

“Take those off,” Itachi ordered in a husky voice, interrupting his thoughts.

Lifting his chin up defiantly, Deidara trailed his fingers over Itachi’s bare stomach. “Why don’t you do it?” he crooned back.

He was startled as his shoulders were forced roughly against the shower wall, giving Itachi a questioning look. “You do it,” Itachi insisted, panting slightly.

A grin spread across his face as he looked up at Itachi, his dark hair clinging to his face. He complied. Fingers fought against the resistance of his jeans, working the fabric over his hips. Itachi was watching him with a delightfully hungry expression, lips parted to let out his soft pants. He was growing stiffer as well, legs shaking slightly as he moved his knee so Deidara could push the denim off himself. “Better?” Deidara asked, gesturing broadly as he kicked his pants and underwear away from them.

Itachi replied with a fierce kiss, groaning helplessly as he tried to fuse their bodies together against the wall. “Deidara,” he moaned softly, breaking the kiss for breath. “Thank you.”

“What for?” Deidara asked, fingers trailing down Itachi’s sides. He started to reach around to grab ass, but Itachi stopped him. His fingers brushed away his wet hair from his face, cupping his cheek gently.

“Everything,” he said in a weighted tone. “Saving my life – in more ways than one. Keeping me sane. Making me laugh. Loving me. Being you. I love you very much, Deidara.”

“I’m not doing much,” Deidara said with a half chuckle.

“Yes, you are,” Itachi whispered, wrapping his arms around him and pulled him close, the sexual touches replaced with caring ones.

Deidara blinked, staring at the opposite wall in confusion. “…are you dying?” he asked, after a few moments of silence between them.

“No,” came the soft chuckle in his ear.

“Breaking up with me?”

“Of course not.”

“What’s going on then?”

“Nothing… Everything’s going to change now, and I’m not good with change… but you’re here, so it’s okay.”

“It’s not going to change that much, you know, un,” Deidara told him, still giving the wall a confused look. “It’ll go back to how it was before he got out. Your mom’ll probably get a shit ton of money though. I heard her talking to a lawyer on the phone, she’s going to drain him.” He laughed derisively. “The shithead.”

“We’ll see,” Itachi murmured.

Tilting his head to the side, Deidara watched Itachi’s face as the brunette loosened his hold so he could look down at him. It was an expression Deidara wasn’t used to being looked at with, definitely not in the bathroom shower. Sometimes he caught Itachi looking at him like that when he first woke up. Itachi had more ways of making him uncomfortable than Daichi had piercings. Shifting a little, he slipped out of Itachi’s arms and shut the water off. “So much for that shower,” he said, unable to stop the embarrassed and ridiculous sounding chuckle that came out of his mouth.

“It’s better anyway,” Itachi said softly, handing him a towel. “Sasuke is here.”

“Oh, no,” Deidara said dramatically in an attempt to cover up his embarrassment with humor and whirled around to face him. “Does Sasuke not know we have sex, un?” he asked, finally winning a laugh from Itachi.

“We’ll have fun later,” Itachi promised with a slight grin. “I’m serious though, Dei. I love you very much. What did my mom say? ‘You sweet, sweet boy’.” He gave him a gentle kiss on the cheek. Deidara started to grin, that awkward giggle threatening to come out, but Itachi was giving him that look again and he scrambled to escape, hurriedly darting away to escape him, trying his best not to look like he was running away as he climbed up his bunk ladder with his towel around his waist.

Itachi watched him go with another soft chuckle. He had embarrassed him, not the teasing ego poking that usually ended in Deidara’s explosive anger, but embarrassed him with affection. He didn’t think he had ever seen the blond look so flustered before. Did he care? Of course not, he hadn’t done anything wrong so he shouldn’t feel bad. If anything, he should be taking advantage of this, something he was planning on doing. After drying himself off, he put his clothes back on and walked out of the showers. Deidara had drawn the curtain to his bunk which meant he didn’t want to be bothered, so he went into the garage to find Daichi showing Sasuke the Evo Itachi had fixed up at school. It wasn’t perfect, but it had successfully been driven here and Daichi was making a project of it to update it for racing. He stopped short when he realized it was not the same color as when he had brought it. It had been a nice shade of dark blue, but was now bright yellow with black details shaped in jagged lines down the sides.

“You let him paint my car?” Itachi breathed out in devastation.

“I believe it’s my car until you pay me back for all the parts,” Daichi countered, but it was with a grin. 

“I like the paint job,” Sasuke declared, then turned to give Itachi a meaningful look. It was much different than Deidara’s pleading expression that nearly always got what he wanted, but it worked very well for Sasuke too.

“Daichi,” Itachi began with the hint of a smile. “Would it be alright for me to use this car to teach Sasuke how to drive while I’m visiting?”

“You break it you buy it,” Daichi said, turning to wander back to his office to retrieve the key.

“Are you alright?” Sasuke asked when they were alone. Itachi nodded. “Is Deidara alright?”

Itachi gave a soft chuckle. “Yeah, I just embarrassed him so he’s hiding,” he told him. “Let me tell him where we’re going, then I’ll take you out to drive.”

When Sasuke nodded, Itachi turned and walked back to the bunks, climbing the ladder and pushing the curtain that functioned as a door to Deidara’s bunk. The blond was lying on his back, dressed in torn jeans, playing a video game and only glanced at him a brief second before going back to it. His ears were still a little red.

“Hey,” Itachi said, poking his leg. Deidara didn’t answer so he crawled up and jammed his head between him and the screen of his game, causing the blond to make quite a few unhappy sounds. Honestly, he didn’t have room to complain. Deidara did this to him all the time. “Hey,” he said again, kissing his pouting lip. “Sasuke has put his foot down and wants me to teach him how to drive.”

“Okay,” Deidara stated, trying to see around Itachi to his game, but the Uchiha kept moving his head so he couldn’t see. “What? Do you need me to come with you, un?”

“No,” Itachi told him, smiling again. “I just enjoy seeing your face so red.”

“It is not red, un!” Deidara snapped, nearly dumping Itachi off him as he rolled away from him.’

“It is,” Itachi crooned, though wary of any elbows.

“No, it’s n—” Itachi cut him off by kissing the furiously red face. “You can’t win me over tha—”

“If Sasuke doesn’t kill me crashing the car,” Itachi interrupted, reaching up to push Deidara’s long bangs off his grouchy face, “I’m going to rent a room at a hotel so that we can have some actual alone time.” It had been difficult lately without Deidara’s apartment, there was nearly always someone in the garage and his mother worked from home. “You owe me a shower.”

Deidara stopped his embarrassed grumbling and gave him a look, then jerked his game up in front of his face. “I don’t go to hotels with people for less than four hundred bucks, un,” he commented blandly, though the corners of his lips were twitching. So easy to win over.

Itachi gave his bare stomach a small kiss. “How about I buy you a really nice dinner?”

“Fries are good.”

“Junk it is then,” Itachi laughed, leaning down to blow against the blond’s stomach, making him jump and giggle before he slid out to meet his brother at the repaired Evo where he was waiting eagerly with the keys Daichi had left with him. His father was in jail. His brother was safe. He had alone time with Deidara to look forward to. The weight of stress his father gave him seemed to lessen as he drove his brother to the empty car lot by the abandon mall to teach his brother how to drive.


	31. Chapter 31

Summer.

It still felt strange to look forward to summer. He had spent two decades dreading it. It meant he had to stay home more, had weak excuses to go to the library and hide from his father. Now… Now he had friends. He had his mother and brother. He had the garage. He had Deidara. A smile spread across his lips that would not have appeared if he had been in public. He had told everyone not to expect him for another week or so. He had wanted to surprise Deidara.

He had only one more semester. Just one more and he was free until he took on the masters programs. He had taken classes during summer breaks so he could finish sooner. That had meant that his last year didn’t necessarily require him to take summer classes. So he could have the scorching months free to spend with his family and friends. 

And it was scorching. Like it had been at the end of the long summer before his life changed.

As he parked the car the car across the street from a familiar building, he was almost tempted to stay inside in the cool air conditioning. Daichi’s garage would be awfully warm, but he still stalked across the street, head bent against the summer sun. The building was clean as ever and wide open, letting in air flow that smelled of cars and oil. It had become a smell of home. Itachi felt a little guilty, but he enjoyed being at the garage more than his mother’s house. He always came to visit, but generally spent the night here unless it was too hot to sleep in the bunks. Inside were a few cars being worked on. One in particular had the cutest ass hanging out of its engine, heavy docs barely keeping contact with the cement ground. Best thing about summer was Deidara with his thick hair amassed in a mess of a bun and his shirt off. Deidara with his hair in a mess of a bun and his shirt off while working on a car was just too much sometimes.

“That’s a nice welcome home sight,” he said, giving him a good spank causing the blond to jump and drop the tool he was using with a loud clatter.

“Itachi! You’re not supposed to be back for another week, un!” Deidara exclaimed, trying to turn around to face him, but Itachi had him pinned against the car. He missed this, too. Deidara fit perfectly against his body. All those nights spent in his dorm room with an empty bed made him appreciate this warm body so much more. It was hard to imagine how just a few years ago he hated the idea of anyone sleeping in his bed with him – except Sasuke, who broke his heart when he announced that, as a seven year old, he was too old to sleep with his big brother after having a bad dream.

“I know,” Itachi murmured, pressing his nose against the blond’s shoulder. “I wanted to surprise you, and I missed you. Are you surprised?”

“Very,” Deidara said, wiggling his hips against him. “If only I could see you to say hi for real, un.”

“Nah,” Itachi smirked, pulling his hips closer against him, dirty thoughts flooding his mind. He was so happy mentally and physically to have him in his arms again he could have taken him right there on top of the open car engine. After this summer, he had to go back for one more semester. Just one and he was done with his first degree. After that he would transfer to another school in the city for his second. That way he could see him, his family, and his friends every day instead of once or twice a month. He could work for Daichi to earn money so he wouldn’t feel like such a burden to his mother. “This is fine. Right… like… this,” he purred in his ear, smirking as the blond gave a little shiver under him.

“Not on the car,” came an exasperated voice behind him, spoiling the moment.

“Hey, Daichi,” Itachi greeted, pulling Deidara off the car to face the man. “Sorry, I just saw this ass hanging out of the engine and couldn’t resist.”

“I was working,” Deidara grumbled, pushing loose strands of hair off his face.

“Wow,” Itachi joked, leaning back so the blond’s feet left the floor. “You actually working, now that’s something new. A whole shift?” Deidara nodded and he glanced at the clock on the wall. “Isn’t it about time for a hardworking man to clock out for the day?” he asked Daichi, smiling at him as he swung Deidara’s legs back and forth a few inches off the ground.

“Sure,” Daichi told them, smirking a bit. “Welcome back.”

“Thanks,” Itachi said, lifting Deidara into a fireman’s carry to take them through the doors leading to the bunks. Deidara was struggling to be put down, complaining and trying to get a decent kick in, but the angle was bad and Itachi held on tight, looking for an unused bunk. Deidara’s was too high for him to climb and the one he had used during his three month stay looked occupied. Instead, he tossed him into an unused bunk and crawled over top of him, smothering his neck with kisses. “Mmm…I missed you so fucking much. I never hated school before I met you,” he groaned softly against his skin. “You’re a bad influence.”

Deidara’s throat vibrated with his chuckle. “At least let me shower first. I’m covered in sweat and engine grime,” he said, showing him his hands.

“I know, I think it’s sexy,” Itachi told him, grinning deviously. “You know how much I love cars, and how much I love you. Put those two together,” he clicked his tongue, “I just lose it.”

“Haha! I can tell, un!” Deidara laughed as Itachi burrowed his nose into his neck, nibbling at his sweaty, tender spots. “Seriously Itachi! What the hell! This isn’t like you, un.”

“Shh,” Itachi whispered, nosing his ear. “I’ve been waiting to see you for weeks.” This semester’s final weeks had been full of massive project that kept him from traveling home to visit him. Lifting his head, he grinned down at the blond, pushing the loose strands of hair away from his face. Even covered in dirt and engine grime, Deidara looked beautiful to him. He’d stared at Deidara for long hours when the blond was asleep, or moments like this when he got him to sit still long enough. Asleep was always best. He was already starting to squirm. “Sit still, you,” Itachi teased. “I want to stare at you.”

“Gross, un!” Deidara said, pushing his dirty hands against his face to get him away. “Get off me. I gotta shower.”

Itachi gave an unhappy noise, but the blond had wiggled out from under him to roll out of the bed. Propping his head up, he watched the blond kick his shoes off and saunter into the shower room. Nice ass. He smirked. Oh yeah, like he was going to just let him shower on his own. He waited a few minutes before jumping up and hurrying over to the door. Deidara’s apartment had been full of the nosiest people Itachi had ever met, but those who lived in the garage were more private. Itachi appreciated that about them. Because of that, he didn’t feel as uncomfortable being undressed in a place several people used. Quietly closing the door, he stripped off his shirt and pants, leaving them folded with his shoes by the door and walked over to the shower stall with steam fogging up the air around it. Peering inside, he grinned at the sight of Deidara lathered up and scrubbing ferociously so as to finish quickly.

“I should help you,” he purred, wrapping his arms around the blond hanging on tight as he jumped in surprise.

“Fuck! Itachi! Why the hell do you keep sneaking up on me, un?” Deidara snapped, twisting more easily in his arms since he was all soapy. “If you wanted to come too you could have just said…”

“Sorry,” Itachi said, giving him a soft kiss. “I just missed you a lot. I’m happy to see you.” Taking the washcloth from him, he began gently scrubbing his skin. Deidara gave a grunt in mock irritation, but only rolled his eyes and kissed him back when he leaned down, walking them into the stream of water.

“Missed you too, dumbass,” Deidara said, standing up on his toes so he could wrap his arms around him and give him a deeper kiss. He still smelled faintly of the garage, as he remembered. He wasn’t so much of a stick anymore and his muscles had become more defined from working in the garage instead of spending his time drinking and partying. He felt less delicate, more like a man now than a teenager. “Should I give you a shampoo?” Deidara asked, smirking a little.

“Nah,” Itachi whispered, nuzzling his nose against the blond’s. “I showered before I left school. I should make sure you’re nice and clean…everywhere,” he smirked, reaching around to grab a handful of ass. “Ooh. Nice. Working on cars have been good for you,” he purred, massaging his handful as he pulled his hips against him.

Deidara let his head fall back in a laugh. “Are you saying I used to have a flabby ass?” he questioned.

“Absolutely not,” Itachi replied, very seriously. “This has been my favorite ass since the first day I saw it. It’s only gotten better.” Lifting him up, he pressed him against the wall and kissed into his neck. Deidara wrapped his legs around his waist and leaned back as Itachi moved the washcloth down his chest.

“You should get clean too,” the blond said suddenly. “It’s weird if it’s just me. I mean…. I’d rather do you, un. It’s just weird.”

Itachi smiled a little, mentally sighing. Same old. Itachi practically had to tie him down to let him do anything that didn’t involve both of them or just Itachi. It used to bother him a lot, knowing Deidara couldn’t bring himself to trust Itachi not to use the blond’s pleasure as a leverage on him. Of course Deidara did trust Itachi, but bad experiences were hard to forget, especially physical ones. One day he would let him without hearing him whine and complain the whole time, but for now it was just ‘weird’.

He gave Deidara’s ass a firm smack. “Ruin my fun,” he complained, but he was smiling. “I just love seeing you squirm.”

“Hey, you two. Some people also want to shower,” came a voice from the door. 

“Without listening to you two,” said another. “Unless you’re going to invite us in there with you. I’d love to tap your ass again, Deidara.”

Itachi started to turn to irritably tell the men to leave, but Deidara nearly made him drop him as he squirmed out from his pinned position so he could stick his head out the stall door. “In your fucking dreams,” he snapped. “Worst night of my life, un!”

“Dei, I’m going to drop you,” Itachi warned, flexing his arms to hold them still, trying to hang onto the slippery blond.

Deidara pulled himself back in and smirked at him as he gave his nose a small poke. “You’d never drop me,” he purred confidently, planting a deep kiss on Itachi’s startled lips. Ah, here was the Deidara he knew. Maybe he had just caught him off guard with his surprise arrival. He was about to start kissing him back when Deidara threw himself to the side to glare out the door and he was struggling to hold him again. “What the fuck are you still here for? This shower is occupied, un.”

Itachi forcefully jerked Deidara upright again and moved to peer out the door too. Shigeru was standing at the door with his arms folded stubbornly, the other had apparently contented to wait. His head was shaven on the sides and his visible skin was extremely tattooed. “Either you finish up and clear out or I’m coming in there,” was the reply. Itachi held back a grin at Deidara’s startled squeak of confusion. Usually people backed down with Deidara’s demands, but maybe he was losing his crazy edge since he had cleaned up his act a bit. He resisted the urge to pat his feisty boyfriend on the head.

Before the explosion he could practically feel rising up in the blond could come out, Itachi pulled him back into the shower and set him back down. “We’ll be done in a moment,” Itachi said, sticking his head out of the stall again. “Please give us a bit a privacy.”

“Hey!” Deidara snapped at him, his irritation coming out on Itachi now. “He can’t tell us what to do! We were here first, un! I’ll fuckin—”

“Shh,” Itachi pushed a finger to his lips, smiling a little. “It’s fine, Deidara.” He leaned down to give him a soft kiss on the cheek. “We’ll continue this later when we can’t be interrupted.”

So easy to satisfy. The ear to ear grin returned and the blond let him push him under the steady stream of the shower, rinsing the soapy suds off his body. “Fine,” he said, pushing the wet strands of hair that had fallen from its tie off his face. “Let’s go have some fun, un.”

Shutting the water off, he grabbed his towel and stepped out of the shower. “Hey, fuck off, Itachi asked you for privacy. This ain’t a free show,” Deidara snapped, his voice echoing in the tiled room. Apparently Shigeru was still there. The blond quickly dried himself off, then tossed the towel to Itachi and strode out of the room in all his naked glory. Itachi peeked out to watch him, unable to resist. Deidara was much thicker than he used to be – muscles instead of skin and bones. Yep. That ass just kept getting better.

Climbing up into his bunk, Deidara sat down and began digging through his duffle bag. It was nearly out of clean clothes. He’d have to borrow Mikoto’s laundry room again. He pulled on a pair of jean shorts and a tank top, then tugged on a plaid short sleeve shirt over it, but left it unbuttoned. He hurriedly stuffed the duffle bag full of his dirty clothes to take with him since Itachi would certainly have a car so he wouldn’t have to lug the bag all the way to the Uchiha house. Reaching out, he gave the fluffy tail sticking over the mound of his pillow a gentle pull. Milkshake gave a questioning ‘merp?’ and stretched himself out of his nap and came out. He wasn’t a kitten anymore, but was still on the small side for a cat, but he made up for it in attitude and fluff.

“Hey you,” he said, giving the kitten a little scratch. “Time to go.” Milkshake made a slightly grumpy sound, but hopped up to latch his claws into Deidara’s shirt so he could ride him down the stairs – despite the fact that the cat had discovered methods of getting up and down from the bunk by himself now that he was bigger and less of a klutz.

Itachi was waiting for him, dried and redressed, at the bottom of the ladder, looking at him in dismay. “You are a jean killer, Deidara,” the brunette said mournfully, eyeing his pants. “Aren’t those the jeans you got over spring break?”

Itachi’s eye for detail was frightening sometimes. Deidara wasn’t exactly sure when he bought these jeans, but they were definitely less torn up than the others so it was highly possible they were the ones Itachi spoke of. “Probably,” he said, with a shrug after looking down at the pants covered in tears and stains from catching on metal and worn thin from overuse and sharpee’d reminders from when he didn’t have paper handy. Did it really matter? Clothes were meant to be used. His eyes narrowed at a mark just under his pockets. ‘M3 F80’. He gave a slight huff of annoyance and rolled his eyes. His boyfriend was so boring.

Milkshake happily leaped onto Itachi’s shoulder and purred loudly, rubbing his fluffy head against Itachi’s in greeting. Itachi pet him affectionately even though he winced, not used to his claws as Deidara was. 

“Where are we going, un?” Deidara asked as the two of them walked out of the garage with a wave at Daichi. Spotting Itachi’s car, he didn’t wait for the Uchiha to answer him before dropping his bag and ran over to throw himself onto the hood of it. Oh, how he adored this car! This beautiful sleek Mazda with all its modifications and sexy leather interior. Way sexier than an M3. “I missed you, too,” he murmured fondly before he was peeled off. 

“Hey,” Itachi warned, setting him upright and giving him his bag again. “What are you doing? You’re not driving.”

“I know,” Deidara replied, swinging the bag over his shoulder. Milkshake dropped down onto the street and followed Deidara to the side of the car. “I was just telling it hello.”

Itachi rolled his eyes and let the blond into the car – Milkshake hopping in himself and went to find a comfortable place on the dashboard so he could stare out the window. When Itachi got in, Deidara adjusted his seat so he could lean closer. “So where are we going, un?” he asked again.

Itachi turned the car on, shifting gears to pull out into the street. “Sasuke’s getting out of school, so I thought we could go pick him up as a surprise. Then go say hi to mom. After that we can do whatever you want…” He trailed off when he saw Deidara smirking as pleasure swelled inside him. Itachi gave a snort, knowing exactly what he was pleased about. “Yes, I came to see you first,” Itachi said, exasperation in his voice. “You’re that special.”

Deidara cackled and reached out to turn the radio on, pushing as many buttons as he could before he found a song playing he liked. He chatted over the music about things Itachi had been missing out, even though they had talked nearly every day. Deidara couldn’t come visit anymore, but Itachi had tried to come every weekend. Truthfully, he didn’t want Deidara to come. Professor Williams had been watching him for quite some time after he returned from school as if she wanted to make sure that he wasn’t sneaking Deidara into the school. He finally told her that he wouldn’t let him because he didn’t want Deidara to see her anymore – didn’t want her to hurt him anymore, and that he was intending to transfer out of her school because _he_ didn’t want to see her either. He had stopped signing up for her classes and saw her as little as was possible. He had told Kisame that he was transferring as well and was pleased to discover that his roommate had been thinking about transferring to get his next degree as well and had been accepted into a university close to the one Itachi was going to. They made plans to compare schedules so they could still go to a gym together.

Speaking of gyms. “Have you been working out?” Itachi asked suddenly, glancing down at Deidara as they pulled into the street their old high school stood on.

“What?” Deidara asked, distracted from folding a piece of paper he found on in the console in an unknown origami shape.

“You. Working out,” Itachi said, reaching out to give his arm a little squeeze. “There’s no way that’s all from fixing cars.”

Deidara’s face turned pink and he turned to stare out the window. “Just a little,” he mumbled under his breath. “I just wanted to be able to, you know, pick heavy things up in the garage. Plus it looks cool, I think.” He made a valiant effort to recover from his embarrassment by flexing his muscles. “Unless you like tiny stick boys.”

“I like this guy same as I did when he was a stick,” Itachi said, giving his hair a little tug as he pulled into the parking lot and idled in the pick-up area. “Maybe more. I like that you’re healthy now. Wanna come work out w—”

“Hell no,” Deidara cut him off, folding his arms obstinately. “I am not getting up at any unnatural hour, un.”

“Worth a try,” Itachi smiled.

Deidara gave him a mischievous smirk, and flexed his arms again. “Do you like it?”

“Yes,” Itachi grinned, spotting Sasuke coming out of the school. “Very much.”

He contemplated giving a honk, but Deidara had already rolled the window down and shouted out an insult that caught Sasuke’s attention instantly. He looked pissed until he recognized the car and hurried over, grinning. “Hey,” he greeted happily, peering in passed Deidara at his brother. “I thought you weren’t coming home for a week or so.”

“Surprise,” Itachi said, smiling back at him.

“Lemme sit in the front,” Sasuke demanded, opening the passenger door.

“Uh, no,” Deidara scoffed and Sasuke glared.

“Come on, he’s my brother, I never get to sit in the front,” he demanded. “You always get to see him.”

Deidara glared at him, then turned to look at Itachi who didn’t look pleased to have been selected to make the decision. He leaned forward, mouth close to Deidara’s ear and murmured, “I’ll make it up to you twice what it’s worth.”

The blond heaved an unhappy sigh and climbed between the seats into the back bench, yelping when Itachi gave his butt a firm swat. Sasuke tried to sit down, but Milkshake hopped into the recently empty seat and refused to move until Itachi moved him for his brother with an apologetic scratch of his chin before handing him back to Deidara.

When they arrived at the Uchiha house, Deidara crushed Sasuke as he crawled over the seat to be able to get out first, just to annoy the younger Uchiha. He heard Itachi say something soothing to his brother as Milkshake hopped out and followed the blond up to the front door. He loved visiting the Uchiha’s, even though the thrill of possible death had left with Fugaku. Mikoto always made sure he was well fed and usually sent him home with more food.

He felt Itachi come up behind him on the stoop and slide his fingers down his back pocket, rubbing his ass through the fabric. “We’ll go shopping to get you some high quality jeans,” Itachi whispered in his ear. “One day I’ll make them last longer than two months. What did you do? Get stuck on a fence?”

“I think it was the junkyard, un… I was looking for pieces for a project,” Deidara said, glancing down at himself. How should he know? He was an extremely active person. It wasn’t his fault they hadn’t made Deidara-proof jeans yet. He glanced at Itachi who looked like he just walked out of a magazine and grinned a little. Itachi’s wardrobe had been so dull when he first met him and he used to think people who always had nice clothes were lazy and boring because they never did anything to mess up their clothes. Itachi did things and his wardrobe had improved since he began to care about how he looked rather than simply dressing to look nice. And Deidara found him to be wildly fascinating, though Itachi never seemed to understand why.

“Are we going in?” Sasuke asked behind them.

Deidara glanced back up at Itachi and saw him pause. “It feels a bit weird,” he finally admitted.

“Eh? Why?” Deidara asked, tilting his head at him.

“Just,” Itachi began, then looked away. “It just seems strange… since the trial…”

Throwing his head back, Deidara burst out laughing, startling the brothers. “This isn’t a horror movie, Itachi. The house isn’t going to kill you cause the Head of Dick-police is gone, un.”

“I know,” Itachi said defensively.

“And your mom will feed us,” he reminded him.

“I feed you.”

“Your mom is a better cook.”

“Have you been exploiting my mother for free food?” Itachi asked, frowning though it wasn’t angry.

“Maybe,” Deidara grinned and threw open the front door. “Mikoto!” he called into the house. “I brought you a present, un!”

“Hi, Deidara!” came Mikoto’s voice from somewhere in the lovely air conditioned house. “Come on in, I’ll be down in a minute.”

Itachi smiled softly at Deidara and his beaming excitement, kicking off his shoes – at the door instead of halfway into the room, Mikoto had given him several stern lectures about dirty shoes. The blond bounced on his toes, fidgeting with the hem of his shirt that made the frayed edges worse. Itachi watched him, wondering if the blond had ever gone to see a non-Sasori doctor about his inability to contain his mind and body into stillness. He could use medicine to stay calm, but then again, Deidara had worked hard to stay clean of drugs and he didn’t want to put that in jeopardy. Even if it would help him, Itachi found his excitement to show him off to his mother something delightfully cute. He did love his eccentric nature that complimented his own so nicely, in his own mind.

“Sorry, I was—oh! Itachi!” his mother’s excited gasp stopped his thoughts briefly before familiar arms and nostalgic smells enveloped him. His mother wasn’t that much taller than Deidara, so he had to bed down a little to get the full embrace as she pulled his head onto her shoulder and squeezed him tightly. “We weren’t expecting you come for another week! What a great surprise!”

“He wanted to go out, but I told him he should come say hi, un,” Deidara said, looking smug.

“No, he didn’t,” Itachi said, returning his mother’s hug. “He’s just pleased I saw him first, and I wanted to pick up Sasuke from school… sorry mom.”

“I understand, dear,” Mikoto said, giving him a gentle kiss on the cheek. “I know how much you’ve missed each other. Deidara has been pining for you ever since he last saw you.”

“I have not,” Deidara insisted, ears reddening.

“And Sasuke’s been marking off the days till you come back for a month,” she added.

“Mom!”

Itachi smiled at their embarrassment. “Nice to know I was missed,” he said.

“I didn’t miss you, un!” Deidara raged, storming away to the kitchen. His mother gave his back the smile she'd give to Sasuke when his brother insisted that he didn't want his mother to pack his school lunch. He knew the blond missed him, but it was cute to hear about him going to pieces in his absence.

“I kinda missed you,” Sasuke admitted, with a half shrug. “Oh, guess what.” He grinned broadly in a way that let Itachi know he was incredibly pleased with himself. “I am top of my class and I turned down the valedictorian position, and I got accepted into University.”

“Congratulations,” Itachi replied, an eyebrow raising. “Why did you turn down the position?”

Sasuke gave a shrug. “Cause everyone expected me to do it,” he replied. “And I can’t top Deidara’s speech. The family was pretty mad. Dad sent me a letter,” he added with a great roll of his eyes, spoken under his breath so their mother couldn’t hear him as she went back into the kitchen. “Said I was disappointing him and shouldn’t go by way of the riffraff you let in the house.”

Itachi raised his other eyebrow. “Oh?”

“I sent him back a picture of dog shit,” his little brother replied, his expression empty of remorse.

Resisting the urge to plant his hand over his face, Itachi heaved a sigh and placed an arm around Sasuke’s shoulder leading him into the kitchen where Deidara was munching on a sandwich, his ears still a little pink. Itachi sat down next to him and leaned over and Deidara held out the sandwich for him to bite into. Deidara gave him a suppressed grin and proceeded to stuff the rest of the entire sandwich into his mouth at once.

“Do you two have plans for the summer?” Mikoto asked, setting a light sandwich in front of Itachi and Sasuke.

Deidara made a string of noises that might have intended to be words but was unable to get passed the sandwich. Mikoto gave him a disapproving look and he gave a sigh and began chewing through the bread. “Daichi’s taking everyone from the garage to the beach later in the summer, un,” he repeated.

“Otherwise, just hanging out and working on cars,” Itachi said with a shrug. He wasn’t exactly fond of the beach, but Deidara had been excited about it.

“Deidara, perhaps Itachi can help you get ready for fall,” Mikoto suggested with a smile.

“Get ready for what?” Itachi asked, turning to look at the blond in surprise. 

“I haven’t told him yet, un,” Deidara mumbled, picking at the crumbs on his plate.

“Oh,” she said in slight dismay. “Sorry, if I spoiled your surprise.”

“It’s okay, I just wanted to tell him in person, un,” Deidara said with a grin.

Mikoto smiled knowingly and nodded. “I saw Daichi’s face when you told him. You really are going to send him into an early grave,” she said, though affectionately.

“He says I’m penance for his past sins,” the blond told her gravely, which made her laugh. He looked pleased about it.

“What are you talking about? What is this surprise?” Itachi asked, nudging the blond impatiently.

The blond drew himself up proudly and smirked at Itachi. “You,” he began, “are one step closer to buying me a new motorcycle, un.”

It took a moment for Itachi’s brain to catch up with Deidara’s before he looked at him in surprise. “You’re taking classes?” he asked, eyebrows climbing.

“Not yet,” Deidara said with a raise of his shoulder, as if it didn’t really matter, but the corners of his lips were twitching and his leg was bouncing with the effort to keep still. “I just got accepted into the university. Starting in the fall, un.”

“Congratulations,” Itachi said, beaming proudly at him. And then what his mother had said came to mind and he looked wary. “What will you be studying?”

This, it seemed, was what Deidara was most excited about and why he waited to tell him in person. He turned his whole body to face Itachi and held his hands out as if bestowing a great and wonderful secret. “Did you know,” he said, eyes dancing with glee, his grin splitting his face in half, “that you can get a degree in pyrotechnics?”

Itachi tried to smile, but, like Daichi, felt a few years, possibly decades, get shaved off his life. “Oh yeah?” he replied, his voice and octave higher than normal and hoping Deidara wouldn’t be angry for his lack of enthusiasm.

“Yeah!” Deidara exclaimed. “Like, I can get a degree in actual art, un! I did all the research and everything. I found a school that’s in the city that offers it as a degree and even went to talk to the program advisors and got to show off some of my art for them and did everything and the guy at the administration office says because of my income I get lots of money from the city and he gave me a list of all these scholarships. And because I’ve got such a woeful past,” he said this with a dramatic gesture, “I applied and won some of them too, so I don’t have to pay for classes at all. It’ll be awesome. I could get _paid_ to make _art_ , un!”

“That’s pretty cool,” Itachi said, taking the opportunity to finish his sandwich and not be forced to comment further.

The blond was snickering at him. Not angry but amused that he was fearful for his life now. Deidara never feared for his life, something Itachi felt was something extremely important to survival, but it had served Deidara quite well. They spent the afternoon chatting in the kitchen and then helped Mikoto with dinner and dishes and then retreated to Itachi’s room – Itachi dragging the blond up before he could make some comment about what they were possibly going to do to each other when Sasuke asked where they were going.

Itachi was lounging on the bed petting Milkshake, watching Deidara, who had wedged himself into a comfortable position on the window seat, show off his newly gained skill of impossibly twisting string into shapes between his fingers for Itachi’s entertainment when Mikoto knocked on the door about an hour later.

“Come in,” Itachi called, sitting up and turning to the door, Deidara having just shown him a complicated design that looked impossible to have been accomplished so easily.

“Hey boys,” she said, peeking her head in first with a small grin. “Are you two busy?”

“No,” they both answered, Deidara untangling the string far easier than it should have been. Itachi gave the string a suspicious look. Deidara looked smug about impressing him.

“Good,” she said, clasping her phone between her hands. “I have a surprise for the two of you.”

“A surprise?” they answered in unison, Deidara’s voice a little more excited than Itachi’s.

“Yes,” she said, smile widening. “It’s not quite finished yet, but I just got the confirmation,” she waved her phone, “and I think you will really like it. We can go see it now if you’d like.”

Itachi exchanged a glance at Deidara, wondering if he knew what she was talking about. The blond gave an exaggerated shrug then got up and pulled his shirt back on – it had been removed sometime during a kissing session after dinner. He slipped passed Mikoto to go downstairs, always ready for a surprise, but Itachi stood up a little more slowly.

“What is it?” Itachi asked, following his mother back down stairs.

“It’s a surprise present for you – and Deidara,” she told him, reaching up to brush his bangs off his face. “A graduation present.”

“I haven’t graduated yet,” he reminded her with a slight frown. This sounded a little dangerous.

“You will,” she said, pride very audible in her voice. “And you will graduate from your second school and I will be equally proud of you. You’re turning into the successful, strong willed, handsome man I always you knew you would. And I’m so happy you found someone special to be with you.”

Itachi felt his cheeks darkening slightly and he averted her gaze by look into the kitchen where he could see Deidara trying to stuff as many marshmallows as possible into his mouth at once. He snorted softly, “yeah… ‘special’.”

Mikoto turned to see what he was looking at and chuckled. “Deidara, please don’t do that, you’ll choke,” she scolded as he waved her off. “I’m actually rather excited,” she added as she went to slip on her shoes. “You’ve never driven me before, Itachi.”

The brunette stopped short, pausing in thought. That was true… mostly because she had her own car or had ridden with Fugaku. He looked at her apprehensively, suddenly self-conscious of his speeding and drifting, but Deidara strutted passed them and smirked. “Your momma ain’t no stiff, un,” he stated, putting his shoes on and walking out the front door. “You should see her on a bike.”

A sputter came out of Itachi’s mouth before he could stop it, staring after Deidara, then back at his mother, a little alarmed, but she only laughed at his expression. “Deidara took me to work on his bike a few times,” she told him. “I haven’t been on one since before you were born.”

“What?” Itachi started, staring at her wide eyed.

She pursed her lips and nodded thoughtfully as though he had merely been making a filler comment instead of reacting to this startling revelation on his mother’s past. He kept staring at her as they put their shoes on and followed Deidara out to the Mazda and climbed in. Deidara got into the back seat without being asked and they pulled out of the neighborhood. At the first stop sign, Mikoto sat up and turned to give Deidara a hard look until he sheepishly put his seatbelt on and she sat back and began asking Itachi questions such as his last few days at school and why he was home early. Itachi explained that the things he had to do were just a few simple things that he could do online or were not time consuming – like taking out the trash and signing up for next years’ classes. He glanced up at the rearview mirror at Deidara who was grinning in anticipatory excitement as he stared out the window wondering where they were going. That adorable grin was the reason he rushed to finish things so he could come home early. All his classes finished, all his work turned in, finals finished. Everything else were just things that were limiting his summer time with Deidara. He hadn’t told the blond when classes were finished, only when he was coming home because he knew the blond would plague him to come home early and this way he had given him a present.

“So where are we going?” Deidara asked after Itachi gave his fingers a little flick as they began snaking between the seats towards his crotch.

“You’ll see,” Mikoto said cheerfully. “It’s a late birthday present and early graduation present for both of you.”

“I like presents, un!” Deidara announced happily. “Especially when it’s not my birthday.”

Itachi wasn’t as excited. “Mom, you didn’t have to get us anything,” he said quietly, turning as she pointed.

Mikoto gave a gently laugh and shook her head. “I know that, and you know your dislike of presents has never stopped me from giving them to you.” Deidara leaned between the seats and piped up again that _he_ liked presents, she reached back and brushed his bangs out of his face. “I know you do,” she told him. “Up this road, Itachi… And right here, park over there please.”

Obeying, Itachi turned the car off and pulled the emergency break before getting out and looking around as he waited for his mother and Deidara to get out as well. They were on a nice street with overhanging trees. They had passed a few houses, but none of them were very close together and all had nice looking gardens that gave the neighborhood curb appeal, but also provided decent privacy. Mikoto slipped her arms around both the boys’ and they crossed the street to the beginnings of a driveway in front of the only house now visible. They stood in front of it for a long moment before Deidara began to fidget. His cobalt eyes glanced over at Itachi, who gave him an equally confused look.

“Is it inside the house?” the blond asked, shifting from one foot to the other.

“No, dear, it is the house,” Mikoto said, smiling up at it.

Itachi’s stomach felt like it just dropped to his feet as did any words he could possibly come up with. In fact, he felt like his feet were sinking through the asphalt driveway too, until Deidara’s voice snapped him out of the mortified blankness of his mind. “What do you mean, ‘the house’?” Deidara asked, his voice laced in confusion. “I don’t understand. How do you give someone a house, un?”

“Mom,” Itachi breathed out in disbelief. “You bought a house? You bought a house…for us?” Deidara repeated his words, much louder than Itachi had now that the information seemed to click.

“No,” she said, giving his arm an affectionate squeeze. “I know you would never forgive me if I did that. All I’ve done is put the down payment in and laid out the payments for the next three years. Once you’ve finished your schooling and get yourself firmly on your feet, you’ll be doing the payments yourselves.” She beamed at him and led him up the driveway, gesturing to different aspects of the house and yard. “I picked this one because it’s close to the mountain roads you like to drive, and close enough to the city so you’re not so secluded from your friends. It also has a big garage so you can keep your car and Deidara’s motorcycle inside instead of in the drive. It also has outdoor space so you can invite friends over and entertain. It is within yours and Deidara’s budget as well.”

“How do you know what our budget will be?” Itachi asked her with a small laugh as he looked down at the slate stone walkway. 

“I manage money for a living, Itachi,” she reminded him, grinning. “I know.”

As they reached the door, Mikoto reached into the mailbox and produced a key, which she handed him. Hand shaking slightly, he inserted the key and turned the lock. Inside the front of the house was as open and airy as his mother’s home, though lacking in furniture and homely touches. The foyer was tiled, but entryway and what he could see of the living spaces were dark stained hardwood and the door frames thick with decorative molding. He wandered in slowly, taking in the entryway, what he could see of the living room and the large open hallway towards the back of the house, and the wide staircase that twisted in a slow curve to the second floor.

“Mom…I…” he stammered, turning to stare at her, that mortified feeling coming back. She was obviously pleased with herself. “I don’t know what to say…”

“That’s alright,” she told him, brushing his bangs off his face. “I know you like being independent and I understand how uncomfortable it is at the house for you. And that you and Deidara miss having private space. You are my baby, Itachi. I’m going to spoil you until I die whether you like it or not.”

“Thanks, Mom…I’ll do my best to live up to your expectations,” he murmured, leaning down when she stood on her toes to kiss his cheek.

“You already have, sweetheart. Oh,” she turned and looked around. “Where’s Deidara?”

Startled, Itachi went to the door and looked out, seeing the blond still standing at the end of the driveway where they had left him. Deidara had a strange expression on his face as he approached, beginning to fidget under Itachi’s concerned gaze. “Dei, what’s wrong?” he asked.

He looked up at him, then gave a wide eyed stare at the house. “Your mom got you a house. That’s… insane,” his voice was quiet, not like him at all. “Who does that? Who has money to just be like ‘hey, here’s a house I got you’?”

“Yeah,” Itachi said, gaze dropping to his feet. Deidara had once mocked him relentlessly out of spite for how much he was provided for because of his family’s wealth. Even with only one income, it hadn’t changed his mother’s ability to make sure that he was provided for. “Dei,” he added, his voice a little gentler than what the blond usually accepted, “she bought it for you, too. I mean, it’s not really bought, but when I get out of school, we’ll still have to pay for it and stuff… but it’s for you, too. You don’t have to stay in Daichi’s garage, or couch surf when you’re feeling uncomfortable there, and can have privacy again. Don’t you want to live with me?”

“…Yes?” Deidara said, still looking a little dazed and confused.

“Do you like the outside?” he asked the blond with a smile.

“I like the trees,” the blond commented, hands shoving into his back pockets and looking up. “Good climbing trees.”

Placing a hand at Deidara’s back, he gave the blond a little shove and led him up into the house. The blond looked like he felt completely out of place in his old, second hand boots and torn jeans standing in a spotless house with two decently dressed people. Itachi loved him for it. “What do you think?” Mikoto asked him.

Deidara gave a shrug, still looking dazed. “It’s a house?” he replied uncertainly. “I mean… I live in a capsule bed in a mechanic’s garage right now, so…” He gave her an apologetic look, but she didn’t seem fazed.

Mikoto slipped her shoes off and the two followed suit. She began leading them around the house, pointing out the possibilities in certain areas of the house: the living room where they could have a nice sofa and chairs facing the fireplace with a future TV and video game storage, a dining area in an open kitchen, the back deck for entertaining and then proudly gestured to an in-ground pool. Deidara got over a bit of his uncomfortableness at that and snapped his head around to mouth the four letter word to Itachi. Deidara did love pools. Every time they decided to put together their money to rent a hotel room for a night to get some private time, Deidara subtly suggested one with a pool until Itachi began choosing one before he asked.

“How about,” Mikoto said as they came back into the kitchen – a decent sized one with new looking appliances and an island with room for breakfast bar seating, “I call a cab and leave you two alone to explore the upstairs? I don’t want to spoil your first day back. I know you want to spend time together.” She beamed at them, looking extremely pleased with herself.

And then she was gone.

The two of them stood stunned in the foyer after she shut the door behind herself. Itachi didn’t even think to stop her and tell her to wait in the house for a cab, or that he’d take her home first. The house didn’t have the air on, but it was at least a little bit cooler inside than out. The whole thing was surreal. How long had she been planning this for him? He wondered why she hadn’t said anything, though, in reality, he knew that he would have tried to stop her if she had. They should have started out with a cheap apartment or something, not a house… He was too spoiled. He knew he had been privileged before he met Deidara, but he had never really understood exactly how privileged he was. It was almost embarrassing. He distracted his thoughts by looking down at the blond who was still staring outside at the covered pool. “Dei, you okay?” he asked.

It took him a moment to answer, but he finally turned to give him an odd look. “Are we really allowed to be in here, un?” he asked.

Itachi held up the key. “Seems like it,” he replied, smiling. “Hope you don’t change your mind and want to keep living at Daichi’s. Watching movies by myself in that living room would be kind of lonely.”

He blinked up at him, looking partially terrified and partially suspicious. “I can live here?” he asked.

“Of course,” Itachi gave a small laugh and tilted his head to the side. “Didn’t you hear? It’s for both of us.”

The blond looked at him a moment longer, then seemed to forcibly compose himself as he slipped past Itachi to look at the rest of the house. “Cool,” was the last thing he said before he turned the corner and disappeared.

Itachi smiled after him, feeling as though he understood what was wrong, but would let Deidara tell him when he was ready. For now, Deidara was expressing enough excitement for the both of them. He yelled like a child about a huge garage, then came into view again on his way to the stairs. He called for Itachi to watch him slide down the wooden bannister – which he did twice – laughing before he bolted up the stairs to shout about the huge rooms on the second floor and the huge bathroom. Itachi grinned up the stairs then glanced around one more time at the first floor. There was another room next to the hallway that would make a good office space like his mother had at home. Deidara appeared at the top of the stairs again looking impatient and beckoned him frantically, so he complied and climbed the stairs. He pushed him into the main bathroom to show him a large bathtub and showering area before they went to the master bedroom.

Deidara cursed colorfully and stepped inside to stare around. “This is the biggest fucking bedroom I’ve ever seen, un!” he cried, looking skeptically at Itachi. “How the hell can someone live in a house like this?”

“Comfortably with a loud blond boyfriend living here, too,” Itachi said. He tried to wrap his arms around the blond, but he slipped away and threw open the other doors in the room.

“Holy shit, we get our own bathroom,” the blond said, far too loudly. “And a massive closet!” he added nearing a shriek. “Holy crap, this is bigger than your closet. This is almost as big as my whole apartment!”

Ears starting to hurt a bit, Itachi finally caught the blond and dragged him back into the room and wrapped his arms around him tightly, giving a soft shushing noise. “It’ll look nicer with a bed, and there’s a big window over there with a seat like my room,” he added, turning him around so he could see it. “Milkshake would like that.”

“A huge bed!” Deidara said, throwing his hands out to demonstrate since his arms were pinned. “I wont have to sleep on top of you anymore, un.”

Itachi scoffed. “We both know you’ll still be sleeping on top of me,” he said. Deidara was a sleep cuddler. He nuzzled his nose against Deidara’s ear, smelling his favorite shampoo and hints of the garage still lingering after his shower. “I think a small bed would look strange in a room this size, but I don’t want a really huge bed.”

“Yeah, I hate king size beds,” Deidara said, nodding like a bobble head in agreement. “It’s like sleeping in two different countries together, un.”

Itachi laughed and bumped his knees from behind to force him down to the floor. “Different cities has been too far, I think countries would be unbearable,” he told him, squishing him with his weight to his knees, but Deidara didn’t fight him. His fingers slid up Deidara’s back, gently forcing his shirt up. The air was warm in the house and Deidara’s skin was hot with a slight sheen of sweat. Itachi kissed the salty skin anyway, sliding the shirt over his head, giving him space to kiss the back of his neck. Soon Deidara was rubbing his hips against Itachi’s and smirking back at him. Placing a hand on the blond’s hips, Itachi urged him onto his back and crawled over top of him to crush him against the floor and kissed him deeply. Fingers trailed down his skin, remembering everything about his body. He felt the small lines and bumps of his scars, but they didn’t take away from how much he loved the feel of him. He really was much more muscular than he remembered and grinned a little, thinking of the blond working out and being concerned about whether or not Itachi would like it.

Deidara suddenly gave a slight explosion of laughter, flinging his arms out and startling him. “Holy shit we don’t have to lock the fucking door anymore, un!” he cried, still laughing. “We can fuck all over the house and who the fuck cares?!”

Itachi laughed with him, resting his forehead against the blond’s chest. “You are ridiculous,” he commented, giving the corner of his mouth a kiss then slowly slid down his body, leaving kisses behind. Deidara’s chest trembled with laughter, but slowly changed to soft moans of approval. He smirked a little, waiting for the blond to realize what he was doing. All it took was a touch at his pants for Deidara to push himself up to grab at Itachi’s shoulder. Before he could get a word out, Itachi pushed him back down, hand on his chest to keep him from sitting up again. His smirk grew as Deidara protested, but the blond ignored him as he worked the fastenings of his jeans apart and tugged them off his hips. Deidara may not like sexual attention focused just on him, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t get and enjoy it. Itachi was determined on that point. His fingers gripped him tight, allowed himself to relish in the deep moan the blond gave despite how he was fighting weakly against Itachi’s hand.

“Come on, Itachi,” Deidara whimpered quietly, gasping as he stroked him. Itachi just smirked and waited for Deidara to get some blood to his brain. “Damn it, Itachi! Fuck...! You too…”

Chuckling softly, Itachi leaned down and ran his tongue down his length, the guttural groans music to his ears. The blond’s hips raised off the floor, trying to push himself closer to Itachi despite himself. Itachi glanced up as Deidara lift his head to watch him, looking embarrassed, but unable to resist the pleasure as he squirmed against his hand. His free hand and mouth explored his groin with torturous patience. It was for Deidara, and honestly it was for himself as well. In truth, he wanted nothing more than to tear his own clothes off and have skin on skin contact on top of and inside him. He resisted, letting his pants grow more and more uncomfortable as Deidara voiced his reactions of his movements. When he was sure Deidara wasn’t going to pound him into the carpet, he let the blond sit up. His fingers went tight in his hand to try and control those movements on his dick.

Breath escalating in pleasure, Deidara’s body clenched against him in release before he slumped back on his elbows, panting softly. “I fucking hate you,” he huffed, but Itachi only leaned up to kiss him roughly. Irritated as he was, Deidara still clawed at Itachi’s clothes, pulling them off and tossing them somewhere onto the floor. Breaking away from him, Itachi pushed his pants off and crawled out of them and back onto Deidara, stretching his neck so the blond could get the closeness he wanted, groaning softly as Deidara sunk his teeth into his skin. Gripping Deidara’s legs, he pushed them up around his waist as the blond’s fingers dragged down his bear back. God, he missed him so badly. Every time he left he felt the same painful loneliness he had never felt before he met Deidara. Every time he returned, he fell back into his arms again. He never got tired of the feeling of him, the warmth of his skin against his own. It wasn’t just amazing sex, it wasn’t the blond’s remarkable relationship skills (he had none), it was also the personal things they had shared. Deidara saved him from his life, and something about himself made Deidara change too. He didn’t know what had happened. Or what had clicked in that crazy brain of his, but something about himself had made Deidara change too. The way Deidara’s face brightened when he saw him told Itachi that blond was just as happy to be around him as well.

When they were finished, they both leaned back against the wall, sharing one of Deidara’s cigarettes between them.

“I missed you,” Itachi said, leaning against the blond’s hot and sweaty body, the contented feeling of after sex hanging in the room.

“I missed this, un.”

“Hah, more than me?”

“That’s not what I meant.”

Itachi smiled, planting a kiss against Deidara’s temple. He understood. He could see the blond looking around the room, now that the distraction was gone, and seemed to realize where they were and what was gone on was coming back to him. He reached for his pants and pulled out a rag to clean himself off – though it didn’t appear to be thoroughly cleaned of engine grime, or maybe it was just stains. Itachi didn’t bother mentioning it.

“You’re not that great at head.”

Itachi bristled, feeling his face heat up and sputtered out defensively, “maybe I’d get better if you’d let me practice more.”

Deidara gave an amused scoff. “You could ask a prostitute for advice. That’s what I did, un.”

Itachi gave a huff and inhaled the cigarette. “Deidara.”

“What?”

“Got any tips?”

The blond’s laughter echoed a little in the empty room, his shoulders shaking as he snatched the cigarette from Itachi and took a deeper inhale. “Can I stay here while you’re at school?” Deidara asked, legs stretching out in front of him as he blew out the smoke.

“It’s your house, too,” Itachi reminded him again, taking the cigarette from him. They had no ash tray so they made due by eating the last few of Deidara’s mints so they could use the container.

“Doesn’t feel like it, un,” the blond mumbled quietly.

“It is,” Itachi assured him, offering him the stick back. Deidara accepted it with an unconvinced grunt.

“I’ll pay the bills and shit while you’re in school,” Deidara said, wiggling his toes a little.

“You don’t have to, I’ll take care of it,” Itachi replied, realizing too late that it was the wrong thing to say. Deidara glared darkly at him, thrusting the cigarette back into his hand to get his own. “It’d be really expensive. I don’t want you to use all your money like that,” he rushed, trying to explain. It did nothing except to make it worse. “Half,” he offered when Deidara continued to glare at him.

“No,” Deidara insisted. “You won’t be here for like half a year, un.”

“Half,” Itachi repeated, stubbornly.

“No,” Deidara snapped again, his voice growing angrier. “I’m not your fucking property, Itachi. I can take care of myself, un!”

Reaching out, Itachi grabbed Deidara’s wrist to keep him from throwing his cigarette, or leave, or whatever angry thing he was about to do. “You have never been my property,” he insisted firmly. “Half is what being a partner is, Deidara. We split it, evenly as possible. I like taking care of you, Dei. You’re my boyfriend, and it makes me feel good to take care of you.”

“I don’t care,” Deidara said bluntly. Itachi smiled, his head dropping back against the wall. Deidara was such a selfish asshole sometimes. Actually, most of the time, really. His smile seemed to aggravate the blond more and he had to yank him over his lap to keep him from fighting his grip. Careful not to burn him with his cigarette, he wrapped his arms around him and squeezed until the breath – and fight – seemed to leave the blond.

“How about this,” Itachi began. “You pay half and I pay ha—ah! Listen to me,” Itachi cut him off. “We both pay half, but you have to buy half the furniture, too. We’ll need a lot for this size house and I don’t think we’ll be filling it soon. My mom invests my savings and stuff, but I don’t have enough for the whole damn house, and I don’t want to depend on you when I visit on breaks. And you can pick out the bedroom furniture. Doesn’t that sound fair?”

Deidara continued to glare at him, trying to mentally force him into submission, but Itachi wouldn’t budge on the subject. He understood how much Deidara hated being dependent on others for anything. Understood that to him, the situation sounded like one of his clients, buying him things to win his affection and attention. Deidara didn’t like associating them with Itachi, but also hated middle grounds. He didn’t like sharing, and liked taking care of things himself. This was something he’d have to get over though, because it was only fair to split it and Itachi liked to spoil the blond whether he liked it or not. Finally, Deidara scoffed and pulled away to slump against the wall again, signaling Itachi’s victory.

“You may need to learn to cook while I’m gone,” Itachi said. “It’ll be cheaper than buying conbini food all the time. Otherwise, when I graduate from that school and come to live here, I’ll have to hire a personal housekeeper and that never goes well when there’s a successful lawyer in the house…”

Deidara scoffed again, but playfully this time. “You got a thing for housekeepers, un? Should I just walk around the house in just an apron?” he smirked and Itachi grinned at him. “I can cook,” he added, insistently.

“Can you?”

“Can’t be that hard,” Deidara replied with a shrug.

“Shit,” Itachi said, feigning horror, but laughed as Deidara punched his shoulder.

“Let’s not have lots of people over at first,” Deidara said, breaking the silence that followed. “I mean—…Daichi and Rin can. And Sasuke and your mom. Sasori will want to know, but he’ll never come over though, un.”

“That’s fine,” Itachi said, reaching over the crush the cigarette in the mint tray. “Our house. Just us and the cat.” He watched Deidara look around the room then get up to look out one of the windows again.

“A fucking pool,” the blond gave a soft moan of longing.

Itachi grinned and watched him for a moment, knowing he was scared of this big move. A huge step for the blond. “So you’ve been working for Daichi? How do you keep your money safe from all those crazy roommates?” he asked.

Deidara turned back to him and gave him a sheepish grin. “Your mom,” he replied. “She’s been taking care of my money. Like… that stuff she does where she makes it get bigger and stuff. Managing it and all. I have a savings account now.” He laughed under his breath at the ridiculousness of that fact.

“Wow,” Itachi agreed, getting up and going over to him. It felt odd walking around a strange place naked, but it was theirs and he might as well get used to it now. He wrapped his arms around him and grinned. “A bank account and everything. I’m so proud of you, working so hard.”

“Ew, don’t say gross things like that.”

“You’re getting to be such a big boy now.”

“Stooop!” the blond laughed.

“You’ve become a man.”

“Oh, my god, Itachi,” Deidara cried, laughing harder. “You’re so stupid, un! So was I a boy before?” he asked, still laughing. “Is that what turned you on, hm? Am I not so attractive now that I’m old?”

Itachi smirked and turned the blond to face the mess they made of clothes, the perfectly vacuumed carpet no longer in uniformed lines. “I think that is proof that you are,” he purred, hugging him against him tighter. “I’ve always been turned on by you, you slippery bastard,” he added, kissing into his neck. “You’re the dick that always played hard to get, remember?”

“Hmm,” Deidara hummed, glancing innocently away. “I don’t remember that.” 

“Liar,” Itachi accused, reaching down to pinch his ass. “You were such a fucking asshole, and I was nice to you.”

“I have a vague memory of you throwing a phone in a fit of rage. Super nice…”

He smiled against him then stepped around him to grin and kiss him. “I assure you, you’re worth every damn frustration.”

“So cheesy,” Deidara commented, rolling his eyes.

“I love you, my crazy firecracker,” Itachi told him.

“Stop that, for fuck’s sake.”

“I love you.”

“Shut up!”

Smirking, Itachi began tickling Deidara’s sides mercilessly. The blond shrieked and tried to get away, but Itachi tackled him to the ground, still tickling him as they wrestled and rolled around. Every time he nearly got away, Itachi would grab his ankles and drag him back, tickling places that weren’t ticklish, but enjoying Deidara’s reactions just as much. As he ground his hips against Deidara’s naked ass, he smirked and nudged his face to look back at him. “The things I’m going to do to you now that no one can interrupt us,” he whispered huskily in his ear. “We’ll get a bed with really strong posters...and headboard. I hope you like being tied up,” he groaned softly, nibbling on his ear.

Deidara smirked and arched his hips up against him, knocking Itachi off of him and crawled up to sit on his chest. “Who says I’m the one that’s going to be tied up?” he asked, grinning deviously.

Itachi stared at him with stoic blankness that conveyed he would definitely not be the one tied up. He’d been tied up by the blond before and he did not like being unable to defend himself. When the blond kept grinning, he gave a short shake of his head and pushed him down off his chest so he could sit up a bit. “No way,” he said, rubbing the top of his head to mess up the blond mass tied off his neck.

“Let’s go get a bed and find out,” Deidara said, grinning.

“I don’t think we can sleep here tonight,” Itachi admitted. “A nice bed would have to be ordered and delivered and we need other things. I don’t know if the water and electricity if turned on… But we can do all that stuff tonight if you want to…?”

Deidara leaned back against Itachi’s knees and thought for a moment while Itachi smiled and ran his fingers up his legs affectionately. The sun was finally starting to set, but the summer evening was still light enough to keep the room decently lit, though the shadows were creeping. “Let’s do that tomorrow, un,” the blond finally said. “It’s hella hot.”

“Yeah,” Itachi said, grinning up at him. “Let’s go back to Mom’s and sleep in my comfy bed.” Deidara nodded and rolled off him to retrieve his clothes.

They didn’t returned home straight away, but went to see a movie Deidara noticed on a sign as they drove passed the theater. When they finally arrived home it was passed 11 and they slipped upstairs to fall asleep in the cool air of Itachi’s bedroom. The next morning, they stumbled into the kitchen half passed noon and Mikoto set out breakfast for them. She had been sitting at the breakfast bar reading the paper and watching a news feed on her tablet. Deidara was so tired he could barely get his toast into his mouth as Itachi described their plans to pick out a bed and begin deciding on furniture, talking about something on the lines of electricity and water. They had mentioned when they crawled into bed about going out early to shop for furniture, but clearly that early thing wasn’t going to happen.

Deidara had spent the better part of the last fifteen hours in a state of mental confusion, allowing himself to be physically consumed in Itachi’s presence, but his mind couldn’t settle. He hadn’t slept at all last night. This was a very large step in his life and it terrified him enough to not want to take it. It horrified him and went against his very existence. He’d moved many times, sleeping mostly on couches, or even a bus bench if it was late enough. Having his own home wasn’t something he’d ever thought of for himself. His apartment hadn’t been a home, it’d been a place to crash. The garage was as close to a home as he could have thought, but it wasn’t _his_ and he could leave without consequences. He would never have thought of having his own home. Nor would he ever have expected to be sharing such a thing with someone. Deidara didn’t think ahead. He lived in the moment. Having a house, making payments, that meant long term. Somehow he’d gone from two day relationships and couch surfing at the cost of some drugs or a quick fuck to patiently waiting for the end of semesters, working out to impress Itachi, fixing cars for income instead of selling himself – he hadn’t told Itachi that he’d quit that yet. He still went to clubs, still danced at night and spent too much on alcohol and a good time, but when company’s touches became less playful, he would leave. Still, he sometimes had been woken up to someone not Itachi crawling into his bunk to be shoved out. Then Mikoto would find him sleeping in Itachi’s bed, having climbed into the window from the tree outside, despite the fact that she had given him a key to the house.

What happened?

He tilted his head, resting sleepily on his elbow, to look at Itachi, who was much more awake and drinking coffee. How did this happen to him? Every part of him wanted to tell Itachi he didn’t want to do this. He had debated it for hours on how to tell him while the brunette was sleeping, arms wrapped affectionately around him as he used his shoulder as a pillow. Yet, a small part of him liked the idea of having a private place. A very terrified part of him. He didn’t want to think of the house as something for both of them. Perhaps it was just temporary, like the apartment had been. It wasn’t _his_ house. It was Itachi’s. He could leave at any time, or Itachi would make him leave when he got tired of him. Everything was temporary. Everything in life was. You never knew what was going to happen tomorrow.

The worst part was that he suspected Itachi knew exactly what was going on in his head. Which meant if Deidara told him no, he’d understand a little too well. The bastard. He had come to the conclusion that he should pretend he was okay with this without saying one way or another. When the time came to leave, he could.

“I want a mattress like yours,” he said quietly when Itachi and Mikoto paused in their conversation. “It’s the best bed I’ve ever slept in, un… But we can’t take yours… in case we want to visit…”

Itachi grinned at him, nudging the coffee closer to him. He took it and sipped it as Mikoto turned over a legal pad. Apparently she’d been making a few lists while he was day dreaming and nibbling on toast with jam, it looked like a list of stores and items. “Sleepy head,” Itachi said affectionately, poking his knee under the counter. “You want to do this today, or save it for another day?”

“We can do some of it today, un,” Deidara said, biting at the edge of the mug.

“I’ll get the electricity and water turned on,” Mikoto said, laying her tablet flat so she could type something on it. “If you boys want to move in as soon as possible, you’ll need a bit more than a bed.”

“What’s wrong with the house how it is?” Deidara asked with a frown.

“Well, it has no toilet paper to start out with,” Mikoto said, laughing at the startled look on his face. How the hell was he supposed to have thought of that? “Just a few other things. We can go to the store together if you’d like.”

The first week of Itachi’s return had them running all over the place looking at furniture and making decisions. Sasuke had been forbidden from coming after he got on Deidara’s already fried nerves and they had a massive argument in the middle of a store. Mikoto was permitted to come, if only because she was a calming and practical presence because even Itachi was a bit on edge. Mikoto had also pulled their money for them – Deidara proudly showing an impressed Itachi the numbers in his account; Itachi had never actually looked at his savings account since it was something his parents had started and deposited money into. Mikoto decided with her money managing skills that they had enough to get the bare minimum of furniture and supplies. At night, they relieved the stress of the day by joining friends at clubs to dance or at the races. Deidara bet on cars while Itachi stayed under the hoods to discuss engines and parts. They raced a few times, but Itachi was out of practice and there was only so many times Deidara wanted to show off. During the day, Itachi joined Deidara at work, but Itachi refused money from Daichi, saying he just wanted to learn. When the handful of pieces they bought were delivered, they took off work to set them up. It was a very long and frustrating task of putting it all together, changing their minds on where to put the items are realizing they were now too heavy to move. They’d stormed out a number of times to angrily chain smoke on opposite sides of the house. When they finally had the bedroom set up in a way they could both agree with, they were too tired to put any special details such as sheets and blankets and just collapsed on the bare mattress together.

Spread out on the mattress, Deidara stared at the ceiling with a cigarette dangling loosely in his fingers. The air con was pumping out cool air now and keeping out the summer heat. They needed a vacation after this stressful week and it really wasn’t over since they had only managed to put together the bed and two nightstands. At least they were going to the beach soon.

His jaw clenched and he turned to look over at Itachi, eyes closed, lips parted slightly as he dozed. He could leave if he wanted. Itachi wouldn’t stop him if he truly decided to leave… No… he couldn’t leave. It would break Itachi’s heart, tearing a piece of himself away. He couldn’t do that. Itachi was important to him. This being his home wouldn’t destroy himself. He had fallen very slowly into this lifestyle, Itachi wasn’t trying to change him. He could still do all the things he wanted. Daichi’s garage had been steadily becoming less of a home for him as he got older. It was work now.

His eyes passed over the room, growing dark as the sun set. Milkshake was perched on the window seat, staring outside at something he couldn’t see, tail flicking back and forth. There had been an empty hole in him for a long time, never having the right thing to fill it with. Not that he hadn’t tried to fill it. He had tried with drugs, with alcohol, with self-destructive fun, with people he got tired of quickly, selling himself. Nothing worked, just left him empty as the day he knew he’d been abandoned. Without him noticing that bloody torn hole his mother’s rejection had left in his heart was getting stitched back together.

Taking a deep breath, Deidara let it out slowly, a small smile crossing his lips. Next to him, Itachi rolled over and snuggled up against him with his arm slung around the blond’s waist.

“Deidara?”

“Hm?”

“I love you,” Itachi murmured, kissing his shoulder gently.

Deidara hesitated for a moment, then replied, “love you, too.” 

He felt Itachi smiling against him as he gave him a grateful kiss. “Welcome home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~The End~
> 
> Thank you very much for reading.
> 
> This story first began a long time ago with my very good - and much more knowledgeable about cars - friend suggesting we play something together involving cars. I recently looked at the date it was first published and it was exactly 10 years ago (July 11, 2007). It made me really happy to revisit this story and update it.
> 
> I'm very grateful for those who have read and those who have commented!


End file.
